Bomber Beware
by Escribe
Summary: Michael is thrown into a operation from his past, one that nearly proved fatal the first time.   With the help of his friends he revisits a painful part of his past and tries to right a wrong from so long ago.   Finally finished.  Thanks for reading along
1. Chapter 1

Bomer Beware

Chapter 1: Special guests

The loft was mostly dark except for the dim lights from the abandoned street below. The nightclub beneath had closed it's doors hours earlier and it too was dark but not deserted. A man sat in front of a small hand held screen, and had been there for several hours waiting for the opportune moment to put his well though out plan into action. The screen contained a bed in a dark room with a man soundly sleeping. He had been there for almost two hours, though almost 30 min. earlier, he had opened his eyes to look around the room and then go back to sleep This did not alarm the man watching the screen. It just made him smile.

Michael lay sleeping on his not so comfortable bed. He had thought many times about replacing it, but never actually took the step. For him it would be like putting down roots in a place he felt trapped in. It would have signaled the beginning of defeat for him. The bed would do for now. After all, he had slept in worse places than this, though never for quite such a long time. He had always been taught to sleep, sleep anywhere you can and when ever you can. It had been a hard lesson learned over and over.

His evening had been busier than most, so had the last five days and his body felt it. He was exhausted and a good sleep today was all he was in the mood for, though Fiona had other plans. It had taken all he had to convince her that tonight was not the night, at least for them. So tonight he slept soundly and alone.

The man watching the screen paid close attention the occupant of the bed's eyes. They had begun to move 15 min earlier, indicating REM sleep and the deepest he would get at least for the next 30 min. Time to put his gears in motion. He pressed the button on his remote and began the process. Two days earlier precautions had been made. The lock on the front door had been drilled into and a metal explosive had been added that would effectively melt the lock. This would jam the front door. It would be too hot for him to touch, and when it cooled, impenetrable.

An exterior bolt had been added to the two side doors and the windows sprayed from the inside, for privacy with a resin designed for Florida Hurricane season. The resin had an odor, but a small controlled electrical fire on the occupants old and decrepit refrigerator hid any odor. Michael had simple put out the fire, repaired the damage and went back to eating his yogurt. He had not noticed.

Beneath the bed lay a canister, as well as several others hidden behind storage items. As he depressed the button, the canister opened releasing the concoction of Chloral Hydrate and tear gas. The door lock began it's burn.

The pop from the canister was enough to wake Michael and then the second louder explosion put him on high alert. Reaching for the gun under his pillow, he stood. His arms stretched forward, gun at the ready. He circled the room blinking his tired eyes, all too aware of the impending gas filling the room. When it was clear that there wasn't anyone standing close by he shoved the gun into the belt line of his pajamas, wrapped a pillow case around his mouth and headed for the double doors. He found them locked from the outside.

"Damn" he said out loud.

The other would be to he thought coughing through the gas that was getting thicker. Picking up his favorite chair he threw it at the windows in the doors. The chair bounced back slamming into his shin.

His mind raced, this was professional, this was a hit or an extraction. An extraction was more likely. He was in trouble.

Pulling his gun out again, he aimed it at the window and pulled the trigger. Nothing. Just a click. When had he last fired his weapon? He had cleaned it a few days ago, it had been here along with all this other stuff. They had altered it. Whoever they were?

The gas was thicker and choking him, feeling dizzy he knew that he was running out of time. Taking his phone off his beside table he dialed Sam. No service. They had thought of everything, just about. Going to memo on his phone, he typed in EXTRACTION and slid the phone under the bed dialing Fi and sending.

Looking up he climbed the stairs as the gas rose with him. The last alternative he thought; the roof. He knew it wouldn't be safe, but he had to chance it. He had tried everything else. The smoke was getting to him, his eyes teared and he coughed frequently, There was something different about this tear gas, something added, he was getting foggy he could feel it. If this continued, he feared he would lose consciousness. He had been exposed to tear gas on multiple occasions, but never felt like this. It was better to confront an attack than to be taken asleep.

At the top of the stairs he paused and waited. No movement on the roof. Then his eye caught site of the massive fan on the back wall. He had only used it a few times, once after a kitchen fire and once after a failed Fi compound mixture. The fan was a vent, it would clear the room of smoke in just a few minutes, it would give him time.

The on button was at the top of the stairs and it looked intact. No extra wires that he could see. He depressed the red button and it whirled to life. Mike smiled and thought about his next move. C4 was still in a drawer below. He could blast the back door or set up a perimeter of explosions until he could get out. They couldn't keep him inside forever.

Just as he finished his thought, he heard the pop and fizz behind him. The engine on the fan blew, smoking as it ground to a halt and a new gas canister popped on the same wall spewing more into the air and another below him. Why hadn't he noticed them? He was tired when he arrived home, but that was a mistake.

"Damn"

Looking up again, he headed for the roof. He had done this before. It would be easy, except this time he was exhausted. His muscles weakened by what he was breathing in. At the top he pushed open the roof tile and he heard the click.

"Mr. Westen so nice of you to join me." The voice said from behind him.

Michael closed his eyes he had no choice.

Michael climbed out breathing hard and coughing. His eyes burning.

The man laughed. "Did you enjoy that as much as I did. I can't decide if I liked the part when the fan came on, or the part when it turned off the best. You must have made a face to post on the web."

"Too bad you didn't get a picture of it." Michael said sarcastically.

"You are right, you are right but we do have the video. It's a great view of your bed. Ms. Glenanne might not agree.

Michael shot back to a memory of 3 nights earlier when Fi had stayed, at least for most of the night. They had been watching him for at least that long and this was their first contact. Patient and prepared.

"So you know my name, care to share yours?"

The man smiled. "It really won't matter that much, but if you must, since we are sharing, it's Mintor."

"Davis Mintor?" Michael shot back. "I heard you were dead, killed with your own bomb."

"Obviously tales of my demise were greatly exaggerated, by me of course." He laughed." Some times you need a clean slate just to start again, especially in our business."

"Our business. From what I hear, you like to blow up people for money. I, on the other hand tried to give people money not to do that. Not really the same thing."

"It sounds so harsh when you say it like that, but enough reminiscing. If you would be so kind, I need you to put these hand cuffs on." Removing them from his pocket he gently tossed them to Michael. "Now I know in your hands, that they can be a powerful weapon, but trust me when I say we have taken great precautions to come here. Let me show you."

The man turned the screen he had been watching towards Michael and clicked a switch.

"Does that person look familiar?"

Michael ground his teeth together and squinted his tearing eyes hoping that he had seen the screen incorrectly. There on the small screen was his mother. Lying peacefully on her side, curlers in her hair. He knew what he was looking at.

"Is it under her bed?"

"Very good, you do know me. Yes, you are correct. Enough to take out most of the room she is in."

"She has nothing to do with this." Michael said angrily.

"Of course she does, don't lie to your self Mr. Westen. She is leverage."

"Leverage for what?"

"That we will be discussing in the next few hours. Now if you don't mind, just slid those cuffs on."

Michael did as instructed while he continued to watch the screen.

"Tighter Mr. Westen, we wouldn't want an incident now would we."

"OK they are tight, now what?"

"There is a ladder over there on the south wall, your going to climb down. I will be right in front of you, so no funny stuff. At the bottom is a pair of leg cuffs, you will put those on and the hood next to them."

"I am not going anywhere until I know that the bomb under my mothers bed has been dismantled. Now you can shoot me, or simply blow her up, but I'm not going anywhere."

In a losing confrontation and hostage situation, you must take some control. They haven't gone this far to go home empty handed. At the very least you hope you are correct.

"Mr. Westen, I have no intention of blowing up your mother as long as you follow my instructions, but I am on a strict well thought out schedule and I don't have time for delays. I won't stand for them. Now go down that ladder."

Michael stood his ground.

His captor moved closer and raised his gun from the downward position to his thigh and fired. The bullet ripped through the side of Michael's thigh as he crumpled to the rocky surface of the roof.

Michael grabbed the wound hoping to stop the bleeding with his tied hands, pushing his finger into the opening and suddenly feeling dizzy for it.

The mans face had changed from the earlier smile.

"I don't like threats Mr. Westen. Actually I hate them and won't stand here while you try it. I have no problem shooting you in the brain and being done with it. Now get down that ladder any way you can and follow my instructions to the letter or that screen image of your mother will be your last image and hers."

Michael had thrown the dice and lost, now he hobbled over to the ladder. The man went down ahead of him, a back pack of equipment on his shoulder. Mike slid his good leg over and eased the injured leg next to it. It was smart to tie his hands, It stopped him from sliding down and taking out his captor.

At the bottom Mike did as he was told except he ripped a strip from the bag designed to go over his head and tied it tightly over the wound on his leg before slipping it over his head.

The burlap bag smelled of a chemical compound and as he was pushed towards a waiting vehicle, the smell filled his nose and he realized why it was familiar; he knew it would put him to sleep in just a few minutes.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-Tell me

Michael woke briefly in the back of the truck and then returned to his unconscious state, not waking again until he felt himself being pulled across a dirt path to a building. He did not know how long he was out, but even with the smell from the bag, he recognized the strong smell of the ocean and beach as well as the thick brush of the glades.

The stairs were wooden and he let them drag him, not sure if he could stand up on his own. Inside he was roughly placed in a hard wooden chair and his arms and feet cable tied down. The bag was removed and he continued to let them think he was out. It may give him an advantage, he couldn't be sure.

Michael could make out three distinct sounds indicating that three people were in the room with him.

"Wake him!" One demanded.

Knowing that usually entailed a form of pain, he opened his eyes, blinking repeatedly.

"Ah...Your back.

"What about my mother?"

"Getting right to the point, I love that about you.

"Well?"

"I used your mother as leverage so I could get you out of the loft and into my truck. I suspect that if I blow her up I won't get another word out of you, will I. So I took the liberty of leaving a small note for Fiona in your, what do you call those terrible living conditions that you live in, yes, a loft. She should be able to dismantle my little bomb without blowing up anything. Now to business. Did you sleep well?"

"Not really But it's nice that you are asking." Michael smiled back taking in the room around him. A bright light was directly above him, a spot light, directly at his eyes, warm almost hot. As for the rest of the room, it was awash in the light and he could see only what they wanted him to see, which was nothing.

"So should we get right down to business? What do you want?"

"Information!"

"What kind? Maybe I can help you and this will all be over soon."

"I wish that were true, Mr. Westen, but the information I require is a little sensitive."

"Why don't you try me? I was burned you know."

"OK, In 1995 you were in you were in Pakistan and arraigned a deal for a family to leave with their personal wealth, and move to the United States. They arrived and were given new identities, new lives as Americans and they disappeared. I want their location and their new identities.

"Why."

"Does it matter?"

"I don't have that information."

"Please Mr. Westen, don't lie to me. It was your operation. I have read the file. Well at least most of it. They removed the best part, the end. That is what I need you for."

"You are asking me about details of an op from 15 years ago, I can't remember that."

"Are you sure. There was a second file all about you. Separate from the main file."

"What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about you, and how the company nearly lost you. Once to a bomb and once to a girl, and once to the investigation. What was her name? Oh, yes yes! Lena."

Michael felt his heart drop. How long had it been since he had heard the name? Bile filled the back of his throat and he closed his eyes.

"Yesss. You do remember. The file I read said you were in love, young love. Forbidden. Books are written about such things. You kept it all discretely hidden away and then, suddenly you ran with her. Didn't you know they wouldn't let you leave with her? Did you know she was pregnant?"

"That's enough!" Michael hissed back. His hands in a fist shaking against the binds.

"That road side bomb was a shame and well planned if I do say so. Though just a tad too much explosive and ...well how long did you stay at the red cross? Six weeks? Or eight? And she lingered for just 4 days. Shame. You never got to see her alive again"

"You son of a bitch!"

The man looked at him and the smile returned. "Your report was incomplete. You named the bomber the Mad Bomber. Not... Mintor the Mad bomber."

"Why" Michael screamed. His face red, hot and sweaty. "I'm going to kill you!" Pulling at the restraints on his wrist causing the plastic edges to dig in to his skin and bleed.

"It was orders, a job. My reputation was on the line. Now you are going to have to settle down."

"Who paid you?"

"Now who is interrogating who? We will get to all of that in the next few days."

"Who paid you, you bastard?"

"Yes, that is right. You never did find out who paid me to kill her did you? You searched for a long time for that answer. You never knew if it was her family. Did they want you and her dead because of their religious beliefs, their shame. Was it was the CIA? Did they not want to lose their brightest new operative?"

"TELL ME!" Michael screamed, tears forming in his eyes. "Just tell me!" Falling back in defeat in the chair.

"I have to be going, good chat. May I call you Michael. I am surprised that it still bothers you. Many said she was just a whore that easily climbed into your bed to get information. Though, I am sure by our discussion of one thing."

Michael looked up still sunk in his chair.

"You...loved her."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Lofty goals

Fi woke late and lay in her warm bed longer than usual enjoying the comfort of her fine linens and goose down mattress cover. She thought of Michael from the night before and how, stressed and overtired, she had pushed herself at him to relieve the pressure and he was just too tired to fight. He kissed her gently on the lips and said good night.

She had gotten out of the car angry and slammed the door. He just closed his tired eyes and put his head back against the leather seat and pressed on the gas. She had been wrong, and she knew it. Michael was tired, worn out. Their operation had been difficult but finally done. Finally a decent paycheck behind it. He just wanted some sleep, it wasn't about her.

Climbing from the bed, she showered quickly, dressed and hopped in the car on her way to his loft. She would stop and get his favorite morning burrito and coffee and just surprise him. Maybe they could spend a normal day at a hotel pool just relaxing with a few drinks and a good book. She had packed a bikini and a bag just in case.

At the loft, his car was still parked which meant he was home. Perhaps still sleeping or perhaps out for a run. Either way she would surprise him. Climbing the stairs to the door, it was the lock she noticed first. Still in the door, the metal had melted in place. A slight burned area noticeable on the wall. Placing the breakfast on the ground, she removed her gun from thigh holster and looked around. Except for the door everything else looked normal.

Flipping her phone on she dialed Sam.

"You have reached the voice mail of Sam Axe..."

She slammed the phone down. It was definitely too early for Sam.

Going down the stairs carefully, she looked for wires and other oddities in her path, with none found, she circled around to the back of the building and climbed up to the exterior deck. A rope with a chain and lock had been put around the doors.

She returned to her car with her bolt cutters and snapped the chain. Checking the door twice, she opened it up carefully and quietly.

"Michael" she whispered.

Stepping in further she could see the empty bed and the pulled down covers. The smell of the gas still lingered slightly and made one of her eyes tear. Visually searching the large room she could see nothing.

"Michael " she said louder. Nothing, no response.

Walking around the loft, gun raised, she checked every corner. Still nothing. He was gone.

Sitting on the bed, she said his name softly.

It was almost an hour before Sam got to the loft, and by then, Fi had the front door open with Michael's blow torch.

Sam whistled as he looked at the lock and smelled the remains of the gas. "Professional!"

"Do you think it was our last job?" Fi asked.

Sam smiled, "They were good, but not this organized. This was a professional hit." He knew it was the wrong word the minute it came out. "I mean job."

Fi just looked at him.

Sam opened his laptop on the kitchen counter. Lucky for us Mike still has the sim card in his phone. We should be able to track him if he is still in Miami."

Looking down at the screen he typed in the correct address and waited. Moments later three distinct red pings appeared together, a fourth just a few miles away.

Fi looked over his shoulder, "That's him, where is he let's go get him?"

Sam looked down, "It's not him Fi. That's his mom. His phone is still here in the loft."

Fiona pulled the bedding back on the bed, nothing.

"Where would he put it if he were in trouble?" she asked herself out loud.

Sam answered, "Under the bed." kneeling down to pull it out.

On the screen, the word EXTRACTION still visible.

"How did you know?"

"That's where I would put it."

"Now what?" Fi said, her voice cracking a little.

"Well Mike usually plans the jobs, so I am just going to think like him. The gas, we need to track down the gas maker. There is no way they drove to Miami, and they couldn't fly with this stuff so it must be local, and if it's local..."

"Then I know just who to ask."

"Now you are thinking Fi." Sam said smiling at her and watching her face fake a smile. "He's going to be fine, we will find him."

"What are you going to do?"

"Well...someone has to tell Maddy and since we don't know who this is coming from, we should move her, get her out of town." said Sam as he noticed the envelope on the work bench.

"My place?" Fi asked watching him.

"Afraid not." Sam said holding the white envelope up with her name on it.

Fi grabbed it and together they eagerly opened the starch white envelope.

Fiona,

Please be so kind and remove the bomb from beneath Madeline Westen's bed.

As long as Michael has behaved himself, you will find her in one piece.

Warm regards,

Blue

"They know who you are Fi". Sam continued, "and they probably know who I am."

"Should we warn Jesse?"

"I suppose it couldn't hurt, though he is in such a lousy mood since... well I won't get into it. Our merry band is not so merry. I doubt he would help."

"He might Sam, he still knows Michael is his ticket home, his path back in. Without our help he won't get very far."

"First things first. Maddie, the bomb. Your gas maker and then Jesse. He can decide if he wants to get involved or not.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Hazy days

Michael breathed through the pain in his lower back and abdomen as they shackled him back in to the chair. The blow to his abdomen had knocked him to his knees. All for a bathroom break. He was sorry he asked. The two large men that helped him to the restroom had no intention of being taken off guard and thus upon standing, they had left indelible impressions with their fists. Upon returning, they had repeated the process, but this time to his kidneys. Their tactics, though brutal were very effective.

He sunk in again and concentrated on just taking a breath. Soon he would have to do more than just sit there. He would have to get out of this location.

The door in front of him opened and let light into the dark space.

"Mr. Westen good morning, did you sleep well?"

Michael looked at him and half smiled. "Not really, a wink now and then."

"Good, then my men are doing their job well."

"Is that your plan? Just keep me awake while I'm here. That doesn't seem... well thought out." Michael was fishing he need to get some information. Actually the plan was good, isolate, give no knowledge, use brutal force for the smallest request and weaken your opponent- don't let him sleep.

"There is more to it, but hopefully we won't have to get to the layers. If you know what I mean."

"No I don't, why don't you just tell me." Michael answered sarcastically.

"Michael, Michael, always the operative. Looking for any clues you can." pulling up a chair to sit in front of him. "Now let us see, it has been almost 24 hrs. You are correct, you haven't slept much and if I have anything to say about it, you won't sleep. Do you know people have died from not sleeping in as little as 7 days. At the very least it decreases your ability to handle stress and problem solve. All things you generally do very well."

"I can live a lot longer than that, but I get a feeling you don't have that much time, do you?"

"I have a lot of time. It's your friends and family that do not."

"What do you want?"

"I told you what I want, I just need an address."

"I told you I don't know."

"I'm sure we have had this discussion, and I don't plan on repeating it. So just tell me what I need to know and then you can go home."

"Go home, your just going to let me go?"

"Home is a relative term. Now where are they?"

Michael just smiled. He would hold off. Something would happen and he would get out.

Mintor nodded and the larger of the two men struck Michael firmly in the jaw with his fist. Causing his chair to fall over. He grunted loudly as his shoulder hit hard and he felt it dislocate.

They grabbed him roughly and righted the chair. Michael breathed in hard as the pain settled in a second jaw strike rocked the chair but not over.

Clenching his teeth Michael hissed out a few words "Torture is an ineffective tool for interrogation, even you should know that."

"I do know, but it can be fun and mixed with other forms, it can be effective."Mintor stood and walked behind Michael. "I will give you one more chance to answer me, or I will put my plan in high gear."

"I can't tell you what I don't know."

"Michael, that line is getting old."

The torch lit beneath the small metal pan about 2 inches in length. Mintor dropped some of the powder into the pan and waited for it to melt, adding a thin liquid he pulled some of it into a syringe and returned to Michael's front.

Michael watched him closely. He couldn't see what was happening behind him, but he could smell the burning of chemicals.

"Last chance. What do you think? Tell me what I need to know or I accelerate the process."

"It is the most powerful addictive drug known to man next to nicotine. Heroin! You will feel great in a few minutes, but in about two or three hours you will begin to have withdrawals. They can be...interesting, especially in your state."

Michael swallowed hard and pulled at his restraints. "You don't want to do this Mintor."

"But I do," Tapping the syringe with his fingers." In a few days, you will be begging to tell me anything I want to know.

Michael struggled under the restraints and the two large gentlemen held him tight as Mintor slid the needle under his skin and mixed the drug into his blood stream.

"Noooo..." Michael said as his will and fight diminished into the euphoria hell of the drug.

Maddie woke in the hotel room alone. Fiona had stayed most of the night, but left early in the morning before the sun came up. The room had a nice view of the Atlantic ocean and south to down town Miami as the sun rose up from the water Hiding her in town was her idea, and against Sam's wishes, but at least here they could update her on her son's disappearance and keep an eye on her.

Since the room was on a credit card being supplied by Barry, she was to charge all her meals and use the concierge service to get anything she might need. Her instructions were clear, other than the pool below, she was not to leave the hotel. She was not to tell people her name, she was just a widow on vacation from Maryland. She had reluctantly agreed after Fiona reminded her that they didn't also need to worry about her again. It had taken most of the previous afternoon to remove the bomb from under her bed and search the remaining house for any others.

Maddie had not slept well, she never did when he was missing. When he was gone all those years, she had slept fine, because she wasn't involved in his day to day life. She could imagine anything about his life: but now that he was back, it was hard to watch his life unfold. His life was dangerous, almost daily, and as a mother should, she worried.

She ran through the conversation she had with Sam the night before. He had looked tired, worn out and he didn't know what to say to her. This thought had passed through his head many times since Mike returned to Miami almost 4 years ago. He had told him several times to move around, stay in a new location every few months, but Mike wasn't scared. If they were coming for him, this was a good a place as any. If they really wanted him, they would succeed. He had been right. The right person had succeeded and left little in the way of clues.

"Maddie we know very little."

"Sam, is this the government again?"

"I don't think so, if it was them, there would not have been a bomb in your bed. That is just not a government thing. This is a freelance job. They needed Mike to behave and I assume he did since it didn't blow."

"Are you saying Mike was taken because of me?"

"No, you were just the push to get him in the car. Mike was taken to get Mike. You were just leverage. They knew he wouldn't let his mother die, it's actually a low blow."

"Now what?"

"I don't know. We move you, we move Fi and we warn Nate."

"Nate is in danger?"

" Nate is just leverage, that's all. We need him just to get out of Las Vegas for a few days until we can figure out what exactly is going on. When it is safe he can return, and so can you. I'm sure Mike is dealing with his own demons, he doesn't need to worry about his family and friends. He knows we would hide you."

"Do you think he knows the bomb in my house did not go off?"

"For his sake Maddie, I hope so. That would be torture."

Michael came out of the haze about two hours later. As his body came down from the height of the drugs effect, he was sick to his stomach and vomited on the floor in front of his chair. His muscles ached and his head hurt, but he had a strange desire to do it again. A thought he fought desperately.

"Ah , your back. Did you enjoy that? Now let us try that again.

Again he was grabbed roughly and held firmly. The needle slid into his arm and the high returned taking him somewhere else. His body limp, slumped over in the chair.

"You can cut the bindings, he won't be anymore trouble."MIntor said. "Remember when he comes out, he is not to sleep and he gets another dose immediately. I will return after dinner. Both of you will be relieved in a few hours and your pay has already been forwarded to the accounts you have given me. I don't want to see you again. You are to disappear. Do not stay in Miami."

Both men nodded in agreement, eager to be away from this psycho they had called boss over the last few days. It was a disagreeable assignment and one they would move on from easily. It was just part of a mercs job, bad bosses, crazy people with crazy ideas, but he had paid very well.

Several hours went by and Michael received a third dose of the drug, this time slightly more. He seemed to want it more when it came, and he found that the resistance in his mind was giving him was becoming harder to believe.

He spent several hours in and out of the drug induced haze, mostly out. With several more doses at different intervals and different strengths. His will was becoming weaker and he lay on the ground unable to resist.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5- Tally Ho

Michael lay on his side on the cold cement floor shaking from the withdrawal of the drug from his system. He was tired and his nerves frayed from the heroin and lack of sleep, His head pounded with the beat of his heart and thirst burned at his throat. He needed to get out soon, he was becoming weaker with every passing minute and his options were becoming more and more limited.

He heard the step coming towards him, but could not see in the darkness. The bright lights followed quickly.

"Michael, do you mind if I call you Michael?" He didn't wait for a reply before continuing. "Are you ready for our little chat."

Michael swallowed hard, "If it's anything like our last one...not so much."

Mentor laughed, "Down but not out and still witty as hell. I love it. But you are starting to test my patience and I 'm sure you don't want to do that."

"Am I not following the time line for you, Mentor. Deadline looming or something. Clients waiting, and not happy. That doesn't look good on your resume."

Mentor clenched his teeth, this man angered him, but he needed to control it.

"Michael, we have plenty of time to chat, but it's starting to get...well... rank in this room."

"I'll gladly take a shower, do you have one close by, I'll just pop in for a quick rinse."

"You would love that wouldn't you, and a long drink of water. How long has it been, 2 almost 3 days. I'm sure your pretty thirsty by now."

Michael smiled, "Not as thirsty as you."

Mentor's fake smile disappeared again.

"You really know how to ruin the mood Michael. Maybe we should give you a bigger dose next time, maybe it will improve your mood.

Mintor snapped his fingers and a new syringe appeared. "I think that is just what you need, a much bigger dose to take the edge off. Mintors two new guards grabbed Michael firmly and pulled his arm out allowing the crook of his interior elbow to be prominent.

As the syringe came closer, Michael realized that his left leg was free and with a twist of his lower body, he was able to snap his leg up and over the larger of the two men around his neck and snap back his head. The man went limp immediately. Freeing Michael's arm, snapping quickly his hand shot under the other mans chin, hitting his wind pipe and knocking him back gasping for breath.

Mintor swung at Michael hitting his lower jaw firmly with his interior palm, knocking Michael back on top of the man.

"Hold him!" Mintor yelled.

Instinctively the man grabbed Michael around the waist, but Michael swung his elbow around quickly and squarely hitting him at the side of the head. Letting go of the grasp, the man slumped against the wall and Michael fought to regain his footing, but Mintor was on him in an instant knocking him back off his feet. The syringe caught his shoulder and Mintor depressed the medicine into his system, but not immediately into his blood stream. Michael looked at the syringe sticking from his skin and kicked at Mintor, hitting him in the jaw. He went down without a fight, slumping where he stood. Michael pulled the syringe from his shoulder, he didn't have long. Without the direct injection to the blood stream, he would have a few minutes, but not long before the heroin sent him into a drug induced squalor.

He rifled through Mintor's pockets, finding a phone and a wallet, but no weapon. The other two held nothing in their pockets. By the time he found the door, he felt the effects of the drug. He was running out of time. He dialed Sam and got his message. Stumbling, outside he fought the effects and dialed Fi. Her message too.

Outside two 4 wheel black Tahoes sat next to each other, rummaging through the car he found a set of keys and started the engine. Rummaging through the glove box he found a screw driver. It would have to do.

He plunged it deep within the rear tire of the second vehicle and climbed into the other vehicle. Out on the dirt road Michael fought to keep his mind focused. He tried Sam again, but again found his answering service.

"Come on Sam, " he yelled at the phone. Hanging up and trying Fi again.

"Damn it!" he yelled at he barreled down the road as fast as he could getting Fi's answering service.

Finally he dialled a third number.

"Hello." his mother's voice said.

"Mom, I need your help."

"Michael is that you?"

Madeline Weston held the phone in her shaking hands, the line had gone dead.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6_ New News

"We need an account with a large sum of money, just in case."

Barry looked down at the form in front of him.

"That is a lot of money, and you need an account and access."

"Barry we wouldn't ask you if we had somewhere else to go." Sam said. "It's for Mike..."

"Ok, but you guys owe me again and a lot."

"Deal" Fiona answered. "And we need you to spread the word that it's out there for information."

"Alright, I have some contacts, I can do that."

Fiona's phone rang again. This time she recognized the call.  
"It's Maddy." she said to Sam. Showing him her phone.

"Hey I like her, she's got taste." Barry said looking at both of them.

Sam and Fiona looked at each other and Fi answered the phone.

"Hello"

"Fiona, it's Michael. He called me."

Fi froze in her seat. "Where is he?"

"I don't know, the phone went dead." panic filled her voice.

"Sam, we have to go." Fi said standing.

"What's going on?" Sam asked

"I don't know." Talking into the phone. "We will be there in twenty minutes. Call the number back."

Fi arrived with Sam in about 15 minutes. She had broken every driving rule she knew, and she did not care. After a detailed 3 way discussion in the car Sam was opening his laptop on his way into the house.

"OK, was it your last call." Sam asked.

"Yes, he didn't call back and it didn't answer when I tried calling back. It just rang." Maddie was in a near panic. This was the first contact in 3 days.

Using the numbers from her phone, Sam typed them into his laptop and waited while the system he was in searched it's memory. The screen came to life flashing a match.

Sam searched the screen. "The phone is out on Tavenier. Only one cell tower."

"That's an hour away, let's go" Fi said.

"What about me?" Maddie asked.

"Maddie, now don't get mad," Sam started, "but we don't know what we are going to run into out there so I think it would be safer if you stayed here."

"Sam, you bring him home," she paused, tears filling her eyes "Alive."

Sam quickly grabbed her and gave her his best hug. Letting go he quickly followed Fi without a word. He wouldn't lie to her, he didn't know what he would find.

"

Michael Westen stumbled from the cab of the truck in a drug induced haze and wandered into the wooded area in front of him. He was unaware of the high speed collision that had knocked him out for a long while.

The front and side of the truck he was driving was crushed beneath the remains of two shattered and splintered trees at the bottom of a minor canal. All of the airbags had deployed and now settled where they lay in the wreckage. Mike did not feel the effects as the blood from the shrapnel in his arm and shoulder dripped down and into the dirt below his feet and he continued to meander forward on an unknown quest. His mouth was dry, and his stomach churned waiting to vomit. Delirium and exhaustion were setting in quickly and he felt the overwhelming desire to lie down and sleep. A desire that he gave into 50 yards from the remains of the vehicle.

"Can't you drive any faster?" Fi said with impudence in her voice.

Sam glanced her way as he rounded the bend doing almost eighty, and correcting his steering as the tires slid out and then quickly back in. "I'm going as fast as I can."

Fi felt the gravity in the tightness of the turn and checked her seat belt and her attitude.

"OK, just get us there alive."

"I will."

Pulling off the bridge, Sam soon realized that he did not know where to go. The island was small, but big enough that it would take time to search. They would have to search in grids and be as effective as possible.

"OK Fi, I saw on a map that there is an fire tower out here. If I drop you there you can check out a portion of the island by binoculars and I will drive the other side looking for..."

"What, you mean what. We don't have a clue what we are looking for, do we?"

Sam sighed hard, she was right. But it was the best they had, if they waited too long he might be gone.

"There isn't a lot out here, if they have Mike. They need a place to hold him, a vehicle to transport him and ...I don't know, but something has got to look out of place."

Reaching in the glove box, Fi removed the binoculars. "Anytime your ready." she said without further questions.

At the top of the tower, Fi quickly scanned the surrounding roads. Mostly dirt or ground coral. The roads led to a few beach homes with thick tree coverage around them. Some beat up pickups, a VW bug convertible and a few boats in private docks. She continued to search and hoped Sam was having better luck with his search parameters.

Sam drove the roads and found that his little slice of heaven was less than hospitable. The roads were in dis repair and there were even fewer homes on this side of the island.

"Anything" he said into his phone to Fi.

"Nothing," she said as she searched the farthest road, how about you?"

"Well if you like tree's and potholes, you'll love my...wait, what this?"

"Sam?" Fi said without a reply.

"SAM." she yelled.

"Yeah, sorry Fi, I'm coming to get you."

"What did you find?"

" A big truck wreck, a fresh one. Be ready."

Fiona flew down the stairs of the tower and Sam wasn't far behind swooping in and picking her up. It took them only moments to return to the scene. They drove past and parked around a bend at least a hundred yards away from it. The Tahoe was damaged beyond repair, Sam and Fi came from different angles, guns loaded and safetys off. Fi checked the rear smashed window quietly and looked all around the passenger side. It didn't seem to have had a passenger, at least not on this trip. No blood, especially on the deployed bags and no human remains.

Fi nodded at Sam as she covered his approach.

The driver side door was open, blood smeared on the handle and inside the vehicle door and seat. The airbag was also deployed and smeared with blood, tree splinters mixed with an assortment of crushed metal and glass filled a portion of what used to be the front seat.

"Clear." Sam said quietly as Fi joined him.

The sight of the blood made her heart sink. She hoped it hadn't been him driving, though part of her did, at least it would be answers.

Sam pointed to the ground leading away from the vehicle. Bare feet had left imprints in the sand and mud, mixed with droplets of blood.

"We follow this." Sam said, knowing she would not object.

Sam went first, Fi covered the rear. They went slowly, turning every tree and brush with caution. Blood smeared the surrounding foliage and whoever it was did not hide their trail.

Sam saw it first, a man standing over what appeared to be a body hidden in a bush. The man spoke on a walkies-talkie. His other arm, pushed into a makeshift sling, a gun in his belt.

"How long before you finish the last tire."

Sam couldn't hear the reply.

"I don't care, get out here as soon as possible." The man answered.

"What's..." Fi started, coming up behind.

Sam sat huddled next to a tree, his finger over his mouth telling her to be quiet.

Fi knelt down to join him and looked at what he was looking at.

"Is that?" She began in a whisper, but could not finish.

"I don't know. It could be him or it could be a drug deal that has gone down hill. It's hard to tell out here."

"Well let's go see." Fiona said eagerly.

"He just called for back-up. I don't how close they are, or how many, but if we are going to do something it should be soon, agreed."

"Follow my lead." Fi said, putting gum in her mouth.

"Oh my god I found you, are you alright, your car!" Fi said standing and surprising the man. "Do you need me to call for an ambulance or something." clicking her gum and using her thickest southern accent.

The man turned quickly to see her.

"Daddy, daddy, I found the driver. Come help me!"

Sam rolled his eyes and stepped out from behind the tree tucking his gun into his shirt and playing along.

"Damn son, your a long way from the road, you get lost?"

The man pulled his shirt down to to hide his gun.

"Yeah I'm fine, but my friend here is hurt. Maybe you can help me get him back to the road. My other friend is on his way and we will get him to the hospital."

Fi felt a twinge as she rounded the bush and saw Michael lying face down.

"Is he dead?" she asked, scared for him.

"No, no. Just a little hurt. Will you help?"

"Sure honey, " Fi answered. "Come on daddy, help us out."

Fi quickly came around to the other side and as she did, Sam leaned in and hit the man as hard as he could with the butt of his gun, knocking him quietly and unceremoniously into the underbrush.

"Mike!" Sam said kneeling down and feeling for a pulse.

"He's alive. Help me get him up."

Fi and Sam dragged Michael through the underbrush and out to the road. About half way to their car both of them heard a truck approach from around the upcoming bend. Ducking into the woods Sam watched the approaching vehicle as Fi looked Michael over. The wound to his shoulder was still bleeding, but semi controlled. A piece of wood from the splintered trees had lodged itself inside his arm and for now, she had no intention of pulling it out. The laceration to his arm had congealed and stopped, though she could tell there were sutures in his future. Other bruises and some swelling would heal. He would live.

"OK," Sam said, pulling at Michael. "They are in the woods, but we don't have long before they realize that only their guy is out there."

Pulling at Mike they nearly ran with him to get back to Sam s car. Fi got in first and Sam gently lowered Mike to her, laying his head on her lap. It was then that Fi noticed his arm.

"Sam." Fi said looking down at Michael.

Sam stopped to look while backing the car out of the ditch. Bruising on his forearm and shoulder meant he had fought them, but several distinct puncture marks pocked his inner elbow where needles had been inserted.

"Track marks. Crap! What did they do to you Mike? What did they give you?" Sam said as he put the car in overdrive, spinning the tires in the dirt and heading out into the street and down towards the new Black Tahoe parked along the road in front of the other. As he came close, he opened the window of his car and squeezed off two rounds taking out the Tahoes two rear tires.

"Now let's see you follow us now."

He smiled to see two men running from the dense foliage in his rear view mirror, one taking a shot at his long out of range car.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7- Coming Back

Pulling into the parking garage of the hotel, Sam found a dark corner to park his car in and helped Mike out of the back seat. This time he moaned softly as they moved him. Together they carried him to the elevator and pressed the button. When it arrived they boarded.

Two floors up at the lobby, the elevator creaked to a halt and a middle aged couple entered. Both staring at the trio.

Sam swallowed hard, he had hoped they would not raise any eyebrows.

Fi sighed loudly and placed her free arm on her hip. "I can't believe that you two went out and got this drunk just days before my wedding. Look at him, he's a mess. What about the pictures? What the hell were you doing?"

Sam caught on and played along. "Jenny don't be too mad, the guys didn't tell him what he was drinking. You know some of those drinks taste like lemonade."

"I don't care what they taste like. A grown man getting sloshed right before he is to tie the knot..." Fake tears formed in her eyes. "I should just call off the wedding."

Fi and Sam both noticed the woman nodding in agreement.

"Don't be too harsh Jenny, I'll fix him up fine. You'll never notice."

The elevator creaked to a halt once again and the trio got off and watched as the doors closed.

"Not bad Fi, not bad." Sam said smiling.

Maddy opened the door to her son's head lolling to the side.

"Oh my god." she gasped and stepped aside while they pulled him in to the room.

"The bath is ready." she said.

"Good, he's filthy. Fi help me in with him and then get my medical kit please."

Fi watched as Sam lowered Mike into the tub of soapy water and began to remove the pajama bottoms that he was woken in 3 days earlier.

"I'll let him soak, especially those cuts and then I will sew him up."

"What can I do." Fi asked helplessly.

"Just get the bed ready, when he is clean, I'll bring him out. And Fi."

"Yeah Sam."

"Stay with Maddy."

She was about to argue when she realized it was pointless, this was a guy thing."

When the door closed, Sam finished stripping off the filthy garment and reviewing the injuries. Several bruises around his mid section in various stages. The shoulder and arm injury, an ugly cut to his thigh and his bloody and bruised face.

"Lets start at the top, huh mike?"

Clean and scrubbed, and splinter free, Sam carried Mike to the bed in a fresh pair of pajamas and gently laid him down.

Fi started on his face and used peroxide for any open cuts and a butterfly for one of the gaping lacerations on his face.

Sam doned gloves and began to places sutures on his arm and shoulder with Maddie's help. They were an efficient team and when they were done, Sam placed an IV line in Mikes arm to give him some missing fluids and antibiotics.

Sitting back, Sam stretched his sore back. "Now we wait. Lets order some food. I'm starving."

Fi gave Sam a look, and then threw the menu his direction. He was right all they could do was wait.

Mike woke several hours later in a daze and immediately felt sick to his stomach. Feeling for the edge of the bed, he sat up and attempted to stand, but dizziness filled his head and he fell backwards towards the bed and into Fi . She had fallen asleep next to him.

Shaken by the sudden movements, Fi snapped on a light and Mike covered his eyes.

"Mike your awake." She said gently.

"Fi" he said confused and breathing hard.

"You are OK Michael. You are safe"

"Fi I need the bathroom, I'm going to be sick."

Moving quickly she disconnected the IV and helped him back to the bathroom. He was shaking all over and a cold sweat lined his skin. When he was done, she helped him back.

"No offense buddy, but you look like crap."

"Sam," Mike said as he sat on the edge of the bed again with his head in his hands trying to control the spin of the room. "Your here too. Where am I?"

"Your in a hotel room in downtown Miami." Madeline said putting her hand on his forehead.

"Mom," Michael said confused.

"Yes we are all here, and glad you are back."

"What happened?" Mike said without looking up.

Sam answered, "We were hoping you could fill us in on the parts we missed Mike."

"Can I have some water?" Mike said and Fi poured him a glass. Sipping slowly he started the tale of where he had been. He went through every detail he could remember except one. He didn't talk of her, of Lena. They didn't need to know, not yet and especially with Fi next to him. When he was done, Fi and Sam filled him in on the little information they had, on the loft and the locks they had found.

"Mickey, they are professionals, and you say you know this bomber from your past. What's his beef?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure he's not the only guy out there that wants what is in my head."

"Are you saying you know where this family is?"

"Yes, and I have to warn them." Mike said trying to stand again.

"Whoa buddy, you are not going anywhere tonight."

"Yes Michael, you need to rest." Fi added along with his mother.

"Mike, we gotta talk about the elephant in the room." Sam added.

"What are you talking about Sam." Mike said confused.

"Look at you, you can barely stand, your sweating and shaking and I don't know if you know, but you have multiple needle marks in your arm. What did they inject you with?"

Mike looked down at his arm and his mind flashed to the injections. He could feel the pull of the drug and the reaction his body was having to not having it for several hours.

"Sam, I'm having withdrawals."

"That's for sure, Mike. But from what?"

Mike hesitated again and closed his eyes. "Heroin."

"Oh no, Mike." Sam added. You can't go anywhere for a few days, it's going to be rough. I've seen that before."

"Heroin, they injected you with heroin? Why would they do that?" Madeline said, pacing behind him.

"I's OK Ma. I'll be fine."

"It's not gonna be fine Mikey, you are going to get a lot sicker than you feel right now. How many times did they shoot you up?"

Mike thought for a moment, "At least a half a dozen that I can remember."

Sam made a face of pain.

"Fi, I need you to take my mom to another room, this is going to get bad."

"Michael, we are all staying. Sam can't do this by himself."

"Yeah, I agree Mike. I will probably need a little help."

"OK," Mike said reluctantly looking down at his clothing and realizing that he had was clean and changed.

"You do this?" He said to Sam.

"Yeah buddy, you were a little out of it when we found you."

"My mom, Fi?" he said embarrassed.

"No, just me."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

"Sorry Mike, it had to be done. You stunk!"

Mike just looked at him and lay back into the cool sheets. He knew that this was going to be the best he felt for several days.

Shaking, Mike woke in pain. His muscles, even his bones seemed to ache. Sweat dripped from his forehead and the once dry sheet below him was now soaked. He could hear voices, but they didn't make sense to him, nothing did. His left leg kicked out involuntarily in the bed and he cried out from the pain.

Fi sat next to him in a chair and wiped the sweat with a cold wet washcloth from his brow. It had been a rough day. Mike had woken earlier in the day in the same state and had gone to sleep again for a few more hours, but for the last few hours he seemed to be waking more frequently and more uncomfortable.

Mike's hand reached for hers.

"Fi, " he said breathing hard." It hurts, can you give me something for the pain. Please. I just need a little, not a lot. Just a little. You can get it, I know you can." His eyes were blood shot, raw and tearing.

Fi looked at Sam, he was asking for heroin again and it was breaking her heart.

Sam shook his head.

"Your OK Michael. You can do this."

"Mike grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her closer. "I want you to get me some NOW dam-it!"

"Easy Mike, easy." Sam said coming to Fi's assistance. "Fi is not going to get you any drugs and neither am I. We agreed, cold turkey. Painful but effective."

"Just,...just." Mike couldn't finish the sentence before the shaking turned to convulsions. Sam and Fi held him, keeping him safe from hurting himself until several minutes later he finally collapsed back into the sheets and his eyes closed again.

Madeline sat in the corner behind them, tears filling her eyes. "He is getting worse." she said when he was asleep.

"It's going to get worse than this, are you sure you want to be here watching. We can get you your own room." Sam added concerned she was seeing too much.

"He's my son Sam, I will stay here with him. Why don't you two try to get some rest. I will sit with him for now. It looks like it will be a long night.

Mike woke on the floor of the bathroom, the smell of vomit still on his breath. His insides felt raw and beaten and a growing pain in his abdomen returned him to the toilet where nothing came up, only the feeling of wanting to. His head pounded, he could feel someone watching him. He turned to look, but he was in the room alone for now.

Slowly he got to his knees and used a towel rack to get to his feet. Letting go of it he attempted a step towards the door and landed on his knees, and then down, chin first; crashing a bath cart as he went.

"Michael, I told you I would be right back." His mother said as she placed a cold cloth on his face.

Michael breathed heavily and curled into a ball on the floor trying to decrease the overwhelming tide of Nausea. His mother sat next to him and wiped his face. She talked softly to him, words he couldn't understand as he drifted out again.

The bed spun beneath him, but the pain had improved as well as the shaking and nausea. It was light out again as he opened his eyes slowly. Next to him, Fi sat in a chair, her legs on the bed next to him.. Her eyes closed as she slept. Mike rolled to his side and slid off the bed, turning, he watched Fi as she continued to sleep and he headed for the bathroom still a little shaky. A shower was in order.

Showered and dressed in fresh clothes, he used the room phone to order room service. Fi woke while he spoke.

"Are you hungry?" He asked her.

No she nodded. "Are you?"

"Famished," he said with a wide smile.

She smiled back at him, "It's good to see you up again."

"It's good to be up again." He said hanging up the phone. "Where is Sam?"

"He took your mother to the pool, just to get out for a while, and he had a quick meeting with a friend. He thinks he may have a line on a few of the Mercs Mintor used. Apparently they have stayed in town to enjoy the warm Miami weather."

"Well, that is a good start, but we also need to make arraignments for me to go to Pennsylvania. To a small town just across the border from New York."

"Michael, you can't leave Miami. You are still a burned spy."

"Fi I have too. I have to warn this family that they are in danger."

"Did you tell them...where they are?"

Mike looked down at his bare feet. "I don't know what I told them. I just don't know."

Fi could see the pain in his face.

"Michael, you said it was almost 15 years since you last saw them. It was one of your first assignments. Maybe they are not there anymore. What is wrong with just calling. Or calling your old handler or Jesse's?"

"There is more to the story that I haven't told you. It might be hard for you to hear, I just want you to know that it was a long time ago. A long time before you, when I was young." She could see the fear in his face.

"OK, what is it?"

" One of my first assignments," he paused, I was just getting started on my own. This family was mine to get information from and find out if they would trade knowledge for a new life in the United States. There were five of them, Mother, Father , three children. Two girls and boy. The father was a Ughan Mission specialist, basically he monitored their spies. With the new government coming in and the old going out people like him were becoming obsolete and being obsolete was a dangerous position to be in. The cold war was over and any knowledge he might have had was quickly being replaced with new ideas. He still had a great basic core and the CIA needed his expertise. They sent me in.

I was personable, young, they said handsome and I could speak the language. His daughter was my age. It was my in. I was to be a business man from the US. Respectable, Muslim and wealthy. I was to seduce her. She was the core of her father's affection. Smart, pretty going places, she was the likely target. If I could get to her, I could get to him.

"So did you?" she asked, "seduce her?"

"Yes, slowly at first, approved meetings, family gatherings, then it happened..." He looked at Fi. I was young, away from home. On my own and ..."

"Go on."

"I...we fell in love. We started to do things that were forbidden, meeting secretly. We were just two kids in love doing what came naturally. Then her father found out, not only that we were seeing each other, but that I was not who I said I was. He went ballistic. Beat her, hid her away. It was too late though, his government got a whiff. They thought he was betraying them and they marked him for death, the whole family. It was an emergency. They had to get them out. I set up the extraction and after days of talking, arguing with her father found out where he had hidden her. So while they were being extracted, I went for her. Moved her and hid her. The CIA didn't care about her, she was a means to an end and dropped all her protection. They had what they wanted. So I...ran with her, knowing she could not run on her own. She was... pregnant. Mine, my child." Mike stopped and looked at Fi. He knew it was a lot for her. She sat blankly looking at him. Then he continued."

I got a vehicle, a Humvee and I was going to drive her to Pakistan and then plead her case, plead our case. She was in grave danger. I never felt the bomb, but from what I was told it took out most of the side of the car where she was. I came too weeks later in a Red Cross Hospital, she managed to hang on for four brutal days, our son died instantly."

Mike stopped, and stared out the window.

"It's not that I don't love you Fi, it's just..."

"What Michael?" Fi said looking at his eyes.

"It tore me apart. I don't know who killed her, but part of me died that day. If I hadn't fallen..." He continued to stare out the window.

"in love. She would still be alive. I killed her." A tear formed in his eyes.

Fi went to him and hugged him firmly. There was nothing she could say, but it seemed to answer the questions she could not answer. Together they sat in silence.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8- Murky Edge

"Your mother is going to be pissed when she wakes up and finds herself alone again, especially after you told her you would rest another day."

"Drive Sam, let me worry about my mother, you worry about watching my back."

"Mike you know I always have your back, but it's your mother. Jeez, these mercenaries, you know what they are going to do, shoot you, kick you, just try to kill you any way they can for the right price, but your ma...it's all mental. That's intimidating!"

Mike sighed and rolled the window down on the charger. "Tell me about it, now you know why killers don't scare me."

Sam smiled, Mike was back for the most part, but he still looked like crap and his hands shook a little.

"Are you sure your up for this, you could take another day. Fi and I can check out this lead."

"I saw them, I can recognize them. I am sure there are a ton of mercenaries in town for one gang or another, but if they are Mintors, I will recognize them."

"Alright, it's your funeral, but if I see you leaning against another wall hoping it will hold you up, we go straight back to the hotel and Fi and I do the dirty work on this."

"I'm fine, Sam" Michael said looking at his friend.

Sam looked forward and drove in the morning hours of Miami's heat. The humidity already making his shirt stick to his body and a drip of sweat fell from his brow. The sun wasn't quite up and the temp was already hovering at 84, and Sam wouldn't even guess at the humidity.

The drive over the causeway to South Beach was exhilarating as the morning sun lifted off the horizon in front of them. Reaching the main road Sam made a left into the Hotel Delano and pulled the car around to the small parking garage. No attendant in sight, he parked and the two exited the car and headed for the employee elevator.

Barry's money had been well spent, news of the mercs. living it up at the beach had trickled back to them, but without pictures. They needed a visual and information, and after the week Michael had, a little revenge. He smiled at the thought. Maybe he would bring them back for Fi, or better yet, his mother.

The elevator opened on the fifth floor, Michael knew from past experiences that the view would be spectacular and the exits limited. Hopefully after a few nights on south beach, he would catch the two men off guard, at least enough to ask a few questions, break a few bones.

Sam donned the hotel jacket, fixed his hair slightly and knocked on the door using his best Hispanic voice as possible. His arms full of sheets and a hidden gun.

"Halo, time for room service."

No answer. He knocked again.

Still no answer, Sam looked at Mike who stood to his right side.

Mike removed the key card from his jacket and slowly slid it into the door lock, a green button appeared immediately.

Reaching for the handle, and dropping the sheets, Sam pointed the gun in the direction of the opening door. Together they entered, Mike directly behind him as they entered the small narrow corridor and past an empty bathroom, a bar area and out into a living room. It was apparent that it was a two bedroom suite.

"They must have been paid well." Michael thought.

Still no movement from within. Sam moved off to the left and Mike off to the right, in front a large open window area with incredible views. Quietly they crept towards the separate bedrooms hoping to find their intended targets still sleeping.

Sam arrived first, the door was open, the curtains still closed leaving the room in darkness. The only light filtering in from where he stood. Gun raised at shoulder height, he moved in and could see a form still in the bed. Inching closer, he came up along side and placed the gun at the mans temple and cocked the trigger, he wasn't going to be caught off guard.

At the other room, Michael found the room in the same state, darkened by the curtains and a figure lying in bed, but there was a problem, he couldn't see it, just sense it. Instead of going to the bed, he slid back the curtain allowing the rising morning sun to fill the room. There on the bed, the mercenary that had beaten him lay face down, his body still in the position of comfortable slumber, only he would never sleep again. A bullet to the back of the brain filled the position under the body with a large sticky pool of the mans blood. It was still fresh, not more than an hour or more.

"Sam" Mike said loudly turning to see him come through the door.

"You've got one too, huh Mikey?"

"Lucky me."

"Execution style, they never saw it coming."

Mike just stood where he was looking around the room, something continued to bother him. Something felt wrong.

"What's up Mike?" Sam asked.  
"I don't know, why would Mintor kill them."

"So your sure these are our boys?"

"This one is, I remember him. I stared at him for 2 days."

"This is giving me the creeps Mike, let's look around. Get anything we can and call in the locals."

Mike stood staring at the bed.

"Are you with me buddy?" Sam said tapping his shoulder.

"Yeah" Mike said, pulling himself from his thoughts.

On the nightstand Sam picked up an airline ticket to Spain, dated for today, a wallet with a really good fake ID and matching passport.

"Looks like they were getting out of town this afternoon. Do you want to check the other room or should I?"

"We can do it together." Mike said out loud, still feeling funny.

As they moved across to the other room, Sam crossed in front of Mike heading to the window with the amazing views.

"Wow Mikey, would you get..."

" SAM GET OUT, GET OUT NOW." Mike screamed as he headed for the door. Instinctively Sam followed with out question. Mike had seen it at the last moment, just as Sam crossed the threshold. A thin bean of light, lit by the morning sun just in the path to the windows. "Of course your going to check out the view," he thought as the room behind him exploded throwing him forward and back out into the hall way.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9_ Fi's Fumble

Fi woke late to the sound of her phone ringing across the hotel room. Rolling over she put the pillow across her face and ignored it until it beeped to remind her she had a message. She lay still, her head pounding below the softness of the feathers. The four, maybe five martini's she had at the hotel bar the evening before were definitely taking their toll on her small frame. She remembered the stumble and fumble it took to get back to the suite, but she thought she had fallen asleep on the couch in the large living room and not in Micheal's bed. Actually she was sure of it.

She had drowned her thoughts in the alcohol, not really sure what her next move was. Michael had made it very clear that the love of his life was dead, and though he loved her, Fi would never replace that for him. Though as usual, Michael had been vague. This irritated her and pushed her to drink at least the first two, the last few were just because it felt good. Looking back at it from her bed, that logic didn't make sense now.

Stumbling from the bed she made it to the shower and ran the water for several minutes before stepping in and letting the warm water fall on her head. It felt good to wash what she could away, though other parts would not be as easy. She still felt Michael, his smell, his smile, and his touch. She had loved and lost, then found again; hoping and praying there would be more, but she was in love with a spy. A spy that was in love with his work and the memory of a dead girl. How could she compete?

Wrapping herself in a fluffy white hotel towel, she reached for the door handle and smelled the smoke. Cigarette smoke, her head dropped and a sigh escaped from her. Maddie was outside the door waiting to have a chat with her. She was not in the mood, not this morning. Instinctively she looked for another exit, but the window was several floors up and in her present dress, that would be impossible.

"So where is he? Matter of fact, where is Sam?" Maddie said as Fi opened the door. Maddie's hair still in rollers as she wore the nightgown Fi had picked for Michael to give to her for her birthday, and her hand tucked firmly into her waist.

"I don't know." Fi said, eying her small suitcase neatly tucked on the chair in her bedroom. "He didn't tell me where he was going, not this time."

"I thought he was going to rest another day, he's sick?"

"Like I have already said, I don't know where he went."

Maddie rolled her eyes and took a long drag on her cigarette. "Where are you going?" Watching her as she partially closed the door.

Fi peeked from the door, "To work for awhile."

"Can I go?"

Fi stood there, before dressing. "I don't think that would be a good idea, some of the stuff I have to do is...a little...dangerous."

Opening the door, she looked at Maddie.

"I will be honest with you. I am bored. I have been here for almost a week, and though this hotel is very nice and so is the pool and beach, I want to go home."

Fi looked at her, and thought how wrong that would be.

"I am sure Michael will be back soon, when he gets here you can discuss that with him, OK?"

"No, it is not OK. Everyone else gets to go out, I just get left behind and I'm sick of it. Now, are you going to take me home or not?"

"I can't do that, it is too dangerous."

"OK, when you leave, I will call myself a cab."

Fi looked at her. She knew her too well. She was determined and she would return home.

Fi sighed, "I will call Mike and tell him you would like to go home."

Maddie waved her hand at Fi dismissively, "You try, I have been calling for an hour."

Fi turned to look at her, "You called Mike for an hour and he didn't respond?" Her facial expression turning to concern. "How about Sam?"

"No, both of them went right to voice mail."

"Get dressed, we are going out."

In the car, Fi checked her phone. A missed call from Sam, but after repeated attempts, no answer. Trying Mike, his phone also went to voice mail. Checking her messages, she hoped Sam had left one.

One new message:

Fi, can you pick me up at Mount Sinai's ER, call me back.

"Did he leave a message."

"Yes."

Maddie looked at her. "Well, are you going to tell me what he said?"

Fi was staring straight ahead.

"Well..." Maddie repeated.

"Its Sam, he's in the ER at Mount Sinai. He needs a ride."

"Where is Michael?" Maddie said with fear in her voice.

"He didn't say."

"Well...we...should." Maddie stumbled through her words.

Fi grabbed her hand. " I am sure he is fine. Let's go get Sam and we will know more."

"I can't go through that again."

"Let's hope for the best. Maybe Sam sprained his ankle or something."

"Yeah, maybe it's something like that. Sam isn't getting any younger, he retired for a reason."

Fi smiled and drove.

Crossing the causeway, she turned left into the parking lot of the hospital. She was well acquainted with its parking by now. Entering the ER entrance they asked at the desk for Sam Axe and were directed around the corner to a cubicle. Sam sat on the bed sideways, a patient gown open to his back. Fi could see the redness of his back, that was now littered with different size bandages.

"That's not a sprained ankle." Maddie said to Fi, also noting the injuries to his back.

"Fi" Sam said excited to see them.

"What happened?" Maddie asked.

Sam looked at Maddie, nervous with the answer. "We went to the hotel."

"We as in you and Michael?" Maddie asked as Fi raised her hand to quiet her and listen to Sam.

"Yes, both of us. We were following up on that lead for those mercs. And when we arrived they were already dead. I think to cover-up the killings, they booby trapped the room with explosives.

"Where is he?" Fi asked

"We got out, but not clean. Mike was in front of me."

"And..." Maddie asked impatiently.

"And I don't know."

"What does that mean?" Maddie said in a louder voice and tears in her eyes.

"I don't know. I came to in the ambulance. We must have been knocked out or thrown up against the wall or something. I lost consciousness and was peppered by shrapnel. I just don't know. I don't remember the explosion. The crew on the ambulance couldn't tell me much more than..." he hesitated and Maddie looked at him hard. "Another crew was working on him."

"If he is injured, he will be here, right?" Maddie asked. Her concern had risen to panic.

"Maddie, I have watched every ambulance come in for the last hour. He has not been on them."

"Where is he, did he go to another hospital?" Fi asked, confused.

" A nurse checked for me, she thinks this is the only hospital where victims were taken. I don't know. I just don't know and I...I can't get him on his phone."

"Sam" Maddie stopped, taking a breath. "Where were you?"

"At the Delano."

"That's not far, we can go there now. Some one must know something." Fi added.

Sam agreed, dressed and sneaking out of the cubicle, he exited through the ER's main doors.

Fi drove quickly out of the parking lot and headed South on Cleveland. It was more than twenty blocks before the back up of traffic. Nearly a standstill. Making a quick left she headed down to Ocean drive, but it too was gridlocked with cars.

Parking quickly, Fi added. "If we walk, we can get there quicker."

Sam and Maddie agreed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9_ Peace and Quite

"SAM, SAM" Michael yelled as he woke, realizing that it was not a good idea to move as much as he did and as quickly.

Hands above him had the same thought as they pushed him down when he started to rise. The voice jumbled around Micheal's head as he worked through the first few moments of being awake again.

The voice was surprisingly familiar as he opened his eyes to see a face he recognized but could not place.

"Sam is fine." the face said back to him, as he understood more words. "He is on his way to Jackson Memorial's ER, but they said he would be fine."

Still slightly panicked Michael pulled the mask from his mouth and tried to focus on the face in front of him as he pulled himself to a sitting position.

She continued to talk to him, her brown hair falling softly over her shoulder.

"Michael Weston, why am I not surprised to see you here." as she returned the mask to his face. "You need to keep that on, you've inhaled a lot of smoke. Give yourself a few minutes."

Suddenly he knew her and knew what she was.

"Detective Paxton, nice to see you again." Michael smiled through the mask as he breathed the fresh air into his burning lungs and then coughed deeply.

"Now let me guess, you and Sam Axe were just walking by and the room just exploded, sending thousands of shards of bomb debris and glass raining down over the pool area below and into the hall way. Is that right?"

Michael swallowed hard as his memory cleared slightly. "Something like that." he answered.

"Michael, this place is about 10 minutes away from swimming in alphabet soup and I need a little more than that, or I will hand you over to the first agency that arrives. I am sure they won't be as nice as I am. At least for the moment." she emphasized. "Now what is the real story."

Mike hesitated. "Sam."

"He's fine, he was knocked into the same wall as you. He has a few injured ribs and a hell of a lot of shards that need to be removed. You were lucky he landed on you. He blocked most of the debris. That makes me think he was behind you when it all went down."

"Or next to me." Michael added.

"Don't push me. I am giving you one last opportunity because I owe you.. a little. I seriously doubt you tried to blow yourself up so I won't hold you as a suspect, but I do want information. You know who was in that room. Were you the intended target?"

Nothing from Mike.

"The best and the brightest will be here soon, but I think you will have answers long before them. I believe you will find this bomber or you already know who this is. Now, the truth."

Michael sat up a little straighter and breathed in a little deeper. He hated not having a choice. The agencies she spoke of would tie him up for days, or longer. Time lost that might save a life or two.

"There is a man in Miami," he began, "He wants information from my past that I can not give him."

"Do you have a name?" She asked, watching two men approach from down the hall.

"If I tell you and you post it, he will run and I will lose an opportunity."

"To kill him?"

"Do you really want to know the answer to that? I told you once that we are on the same side. That is still true. Just imagine if it were hours from now and that pool area below was covered in tourists when this bomb blew. Can you imagine the injuries? He doesn't care, he just kills for money."

Detective Paxton looked up again. The men stood down the hall, in front of the room still billowing smoke. One man in a black suit, the other in a charcoal gray. Michael noticed them too.

"Stay here." she said firmly and stood from her crouch.

Michael grabbed her hand, "They are FBI, they are the easy ones. I can get him, but not from inside a jail cell."

"I will be right back. No promises" she said as she stood again.

"Hello, I'm Detective Paxton. Miami PD. Are you... FBI?" she asked holding out her hand. The man in the black suit reaching out his hand to return the shake "Ruiz. This is Thompson out of the Miami office. What have you got?"

"An explosive device, that is for sure. The Fire Department is still trying to put out the rest of the fire so we can get in there. It shouldn't be much longer." looking over at the man in front of her. " Is there someone in Miami we should be looking at? Does the FBI have any info?"

"Not yet." Said Thompson, too quickly. "What about him?" Pointing down the hall towards Michael.

"Him?" thinking quickly. "An unlucky tourist going out to watch the sunrise. His buddy is already on the way to Jackson, and he is going soon."

"We are just going to ask him a few questions." Said Ruiz pushing past her with Thompson right behind. "What is his name?"

"Mike." She answered.

Detective Paxton looked at Michael. She could see the look on his face, like he had been betrayed. Quickly she made a face at him. Tilted her head to the side, crossed her eyes and hung her tongue out slightly.

Mike recognized the signal and played along.

"Hello Mike." Ruiz began. "I'm special agent Ruiz and this is my partner Thompson."

"YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SPEAK UP. I CAN'T HEAR YOU." Michael said as loud as he could and pointing to his ears as he breathed heavily into the oxygen mask.

"WE NEED TO ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS." Ruiz yelled back.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, I WAS WALKING DOWN THE HALL." Michael looked down the hall at Paxton who was pretending to snap photos from an imaginary camera. "GOING OUT TO TAKE A FEW PHOTOS AND POW. I GET BLOWN UP. THINGS LIKE THIS DON'T HAPPEN IN OHIO."

"DID YOU SEE ANYONE?" Ruiz yelled back.

"YEAH, MY EYES ARE A LITTLE FUZZY, THEY CAN FIX THAT AT THE HOSPITAL, RIGHT."

"I SAID, DID YOU SEE ANYONE." he repeated.

"I CAN SEE BETTER NOW THAN A LITTLE WHILE AGO, THANKS FOR ASKIN'. MY WIFE IS GOIN' TO KILL ME FOR BEING GONE SO LONG. HOW LONG WAS I OUT?"

Thompson looked at Ruiz, asking questions was useless. They would have to try later. They could visit him at the hospital.

"THANKS." They yelled at him. Turning, they returned to Paxton. "Get what you can from him and we will see him later at the hospital."

"No problem. I will forward you a copy of my report as soon as I am done."

"Great, we're just going to check out the room for now. Any other injuries?"

"They are pulling one dead body from the room, they are unsure if there are more, and a maintenance man below was hit by some falling debris."

" It could have been a lot worse. Thanks again." Ruiz said as the two headed back down the hall towards the room.

Paxton knelt at Michael s side.

"Thanks" he said.

"Don't make me regret my decision."

He smiled at her as she helped him stand and walk to the elevator. " Catch the bomber, I don't know how long before the alphabet soup boils."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10 _ Please review_Shaky Ground

It took them almost a half an hour to get through the growing crowds before they reached the hotel. The black smoke from above had thinned out to a trickle and droves of people were being slowly allowed back into their hotel rooms after being displaced hours earlier in a may-lay of panic and fear. Police, as well as FBI and other government officials swarmed the entrance denying anyone who could not confirm their room or their identity.

"We won't be able to get in there." Sam said after monitoring the scene for several minutes.

Maddie pulled her shirt down and her face became determined as she marched forward. "If my son is in there, they will let me in."

Sam grabbed her shoulders, firmly but gently. "The last thing we need is a whole bunch of FBI asking us questions about Mike and why he was so close to a room when it exploded. Especially since he was not a guest here."

Maddie reluctantly backed down.

"OK, what's next?" Fi asked after being ready to back Madeline up.

"Let's start with the basics, let's see if his car is still here."

The three walked through the crowds, past the noise to the back parking garage. Sam was already winded by the time they arrived and slightly hunched over. There in the same position they had left it in hours earlier sat the black charger.

"Alright, that answers that question. He did not drive out of here." Sam added before spotting an ambulance team packing up on the other side of the parking lot.

"Fi," pointing to them. "Use some of your charming personality to ask them some questions." Sam gave her the look, the look he wouldn't let Madeline see.

Sprinting across the parking lot Fi reached the rig before they were done.

"Hey guys," she said with a wiggle in her step. "Can you help me, my friend went out of the hotel for a jog this morning and I can't find him. We were on the floor of the explosion. We left so quickly... I can't get near anyone..." she paused, tears rolled down her cheeks. "He might have been in the...hall." She burst out in tears, which was not hard with the fear she was already growing in the pit of her stomach. "I have tried his cell phone..." more tears.

Both men stopped their packing. The larger of the two stepped towards her.

"All the injured have been taken to Mount Sinai, you can call over there."

"Hey Jim, we can call over there for her. What's his name?" the man still at the rig yelled.

"I was just there. He's not there. His name is Michael. Did you take anyone anywhere else?"

"No, there weren't a lot of injuries, just a couple, but there were a few...deaths."

"Oh god...no!" she paused, having put that thought to the back of her head. " Do you have any of their names?"

"No the cops would, or you can check the coroners office. There were two or three deaths."

"Was it two or three?"

Both men shook their head apologetically.

Fi walked away, thanking them and feeling deflated.

"With that look, I can tell you didn't get anywhere." Sam said.

"Nowhere. Other than they can't confirm the number of people killed" She answered.

"How many dead?"

"Two or three."

"Well, at least two of them are the mercenaries from the hotel that Mike and I found. We need to confirm that."

"How?"

"I'm thinking." Sam answered.

"How about the loft?" Fi asked.

Sam shook his head. "He wouldn't go there, he knows it is too dangerous. It is too much of a risk. He's still pretty weak from the drugs and I'm sure the explosion took the wind out of his sails. He knows he couldn't fight off an attack."

"So where? Where would he go?" Fi said.

"Carlitos?" Sam asked.

Fi shook her head. "So many places, where would you go if you were nearly just blown up Michael?"

"He might go home, he could be dazed from the explosion and just go home." Madeline added.

Sam thought for a minute. "You might be right, he might have gone home."

"Which one?" Fi added. "He does have two, the loft and his mothers and what about the car? Why wouldn't he take it. Why wouldn't he call one of us?"

Sam rubbed his forehead. He wasn't feeling very well and the medication for the pain in his back was wearing off. "There is another explanation, one we haven't approached. Maybe we should at least call?"

Fi knew he was right, they were just avoiding the call to the morgue; hoping Michael' s stealth was much like a cat's and his nine lives were not yet up. "I say we make the call on the way to Maddie's and just get an answer. if we don't get an answer, we check the loft then Carlitos.

They all agreed to the plan. Maddie reluctantly called the coroner's office since she was the next of kin while Fi drove. Sam dozed in the back seat wishing he had taken more for the pain medicine that the nurse had offered.

"Hello, my name is Madeline Weston. I think my son may..." she paused before the words came out and pressed the speaker phone so Sam and Fi could listen. "have been killed in an explosion on South Beach this morning. I have called all the hospitals, but... Can you tell me who I would need to speak to about that?"

"I can't give out information about who is here, it is a confidentiality thing." a young woman's voice answered.

Maddie was in tears again, "Please it's my son. I just need to know. Can you understand that?"

"I can't tell you if he is here, they usually send a police officer to tell a family member before we give any information, but I can tell you if he isn't. Hold on, I have a list."

The pause was the longest of Maddie's life.

"Can you tell me his name?" the girl's voice said returning to the phone.

"His name is Michael, Michael Westen."

"He is not on my list, but." The girl said quietly almost in a whisper.

"But what?" Maddie asked.

"We have two John Does'."

Maddie Thanked the girl and hung up.

Sam gave a thumbs up. "Now where are you Mike?" he said aloud.

Arriving at Madeline's house, Fi removed her 9 mm from the holster below her seat and cocked a round into the chamber.

"You never can be too careful. Do you want to go around back Sam?"

Sam reluctantly agreed, getting out of the car stiffly. Pushing his way through the gate, he moved down the driveway, around the garage for a quick look and in through the laundry room. Fi was already inside, and checking rooms. Clearing as she went.

"Anything?" Sam asked.

Fi pointed her gun in his direction before lowering it. "No, all clear, and no Mike."

Madeline joined them.

"Two more stops, we better get moving." Fi said anxious to figure out this dilemma. Finding that he was not at the morgue was a relief, but it still did not answer the question.

Sam looked under the dining chair and then sat down. "I think we need to take a break, I'm tired."

Fi and Madeline both looked at Sam, he did look tired and his look of discomfort was disconcerting.

"Sorry Sam." Madeline said rubbing his shoulder. "We have been driving around all morning, we forgot that you were nearly blown up this morning. I'll make a snack."

"No!" Fi quickly answered. "We haven't been here for a week, I don't know if that lunatic was here planting anymore bombs, but if your going to relax, I would prefer if you and Sam went back to the hotel."

"I can see Sam, but why me?" Madeline answered.

Fi looked at Sam, he was fading fast, then back at Madeline. "I think Sam needs a little TLC right now, and I can handle myself at the loft and if need be, Carlito's."

Madeline reluctantly agreed. Fi would drop them off at the hotel and check the last two locations. If she did not find him, she would return to the hotel and they would discuss what to do next. Perhaps Michael would call.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11: New Chances

With Detective Paxson's help Mike climbed into the passenger's seat of her car. He was not in any condition to drive and she knew it. She would take him home, let him sleep it off and then with his help, catch the son of a bitch that blew up a hotel room on her watch. Together they could help each other.

With her siren on, she was able to pass over the Tuttle causeway and head to the main land. She remembered where he lived, having been there enough on official business. As she drove she looked over at him. He had leaned his head off to the side and gone to sleep. At least she hoped he had gone to sleep. If he had lost consciousness again it probably would be better to take him to the same ER as his friend Sam, but she had promised. On the way out of the hotel, he asked not to get checked out in the ER, even after she insisted.

"I'm fine, a few hours of sleep and I 'll be good." Michael had said.

He wasn't completely without charm, and she relented.

Pulling up to the loft, he opened his eyes.

"Good" she thought, "just sleeping."

"Thank you." he said as he closed the car door.

"Your welcome. Just remember our deal. I help you, and you help me."

"OK." he agreed half halfheartedly.

She watched as he approached the gate, unlocked it and started up the first few stairs, not bothering to close the gate behind him. He was unsteady. He stopped mid step, briefly and took another before dropping to one knee and clinging to the hand rail. Paxson ran from the car as he tried to pull up to a stand.

"You should have gone to the ER. Let me help you." she said grabbing his arm and putting it over her shoulder and helping him with the remaining stairs.

"You smell nice." he said to her.

"Walk!" she commanded back.

At the top of the stairs she looked around for a key as he finally and clumsily pulled one from his pants pocket. Sam had just given it to him this morning, after having one of Sugar's friends replace the lock as a favor for a favor.

"New lock?" she said noting the recent change and the shinny new equipment on the door.

"Yeah, it's not a good neighborhood."

"You live above a nightclub, that wasn't your first clue?

He shot her a smile.

Inside, he headed for the fridge. He was hungry and thirsty. A water and a yogurt would do the trick. "Do you want a water?" he asked her.

"No, thank you. I have to go. I have to get back to the hotel. They should have the fire out by now, and I suppose there will be questions I will need to answer."

"You work too hard Detective Paxson!" He said pulling the door back on the fridge and removing the items he was looking for.

"I think that is partly your fault, isn't it?" She said sarcastically back. "I do have to keep looking into these strange, but solved cases that have been neatly packaged and left for me."

"You don't think they have anything to do with me, do you?"

"I think they have everything to do with you. You have a flare that I haven't seen before. Things just go badly for...well...the bad guys. I can now look at a case and say with certainty that Michael Westen has been here."

"Is it that obvious?" Michael said as he eased himself into his green chair.

Gangs, drug lords, street hoods, mafia, and who-wants-to-be-the-next-big-things, all magically decide to give back the money, leave people alone or return a victim to their life before intervention. These are the things I investigate now. Crimes the cops didn't solve, just some Robin Hood or some say, vigilante."

"I'm not a vigilante. I try to help people, and whenever possible lead the bad people to the police."

"So who are you, who do you really work for?"

"Michael took a spoonful of his yogurt and a long sip of water. "The truth?"

"That would be refreshing."

"OK,...I am self employed."

"You do this out of the goodness of your heart? I don't believe you!" She turned, angrily towards the door.

"I'm not lying. I used to work for the government and now... these are just jobs. A way to pay the bills. People ask for my help. If I can, I help. That's all." He looked at her sincerely.

Turning towards him. "So why did you leave?" looking down at him.

"The government? That is a long story. A story I don't have all the answers to."

"Is that why?" she said pointing down at his left hand as it began to shake slightly.

He smiled up at her. "I wish it were that simple, but it is a lot more complicated than that."

She smiled back at him, "I think I will take that water before I go."

"OK", Mike said as he began to stand and dizziness overcame him and he fell backwards towards the bed, hitting hard as the bed slid back several feet. Mike felt funny all over, a warmth was rushing through him, taking over. "Help me." he said. "The wat..." as his eyes closed.

Detective Paxson reacted immediately and felt for a pulse. It was there as he breathed heavily. "Crap." she said out loud, unsure what to do. She stood in the loft of a man people would be looking for from the hotel bombing. A man that never made it to the ER, and now he has passed out from his injuries. She rolled her eyes. Now what? There would be too many questions if he showed up in the ER now. Removing her jacket, weapon and badge from her belt, she put them at the end of the bed and grabbed Michael under his arms and hoisted him back onto the bed.

When he was lying sideways with all body parts on the bed. She looked him over. No blood, no new injuries that she could see. She could leave him, let him sleep it off. If he needed a doctor, he could see one when he woke. She began to pick up her things, then dropped them back on the bed. She could not just leave him. What if he had a seizure? Or stopped breathing? What then? She would have left him to die alone. All sorts of scenarios went quickly through her head. She would stay.

Pulling at Micheal's loafers she removed them from his feet. Then his jacket and belt, leaving his shirt intact as well as his tan trousers. From the opposite side of the bed, she pulled the loose end of the covers over him and just for fun, checked his pulse again. Breathing fine, she confirmed, just a lot of twitching.

This was a unique opportunity for her, Michael had invited her in and she was a welcomed guest. While he was asleep, she could look around his small world.

The man watched the screen as the scene unfolded, irritated by it's outcome. In his head phone he heard a reply to his earlier question.

"Her name is Detective Paxson, Miami PD. Should we take her out and grab him."

Mentor hesitated for a moment. A detective has an entire police force behind her, where Michael has just a few friends and family. Nobody really cares about a burned spy. So what is his connection to this cop? She wasn't anywhere in his dossier. He wished the audio he had set up had not been damaged by Sam Axe, but he was thankful the video was still intact. A dead police officer would open up the flood gates of an already volatile state and the same could be said for a captured, missing or just unconscious one. He sighed loudly.

"No, abort, abort. She is too much heat for us right now." He said, disappointed with the outcome but knowing that a new chance would come soon enough as his plan moved ahead.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12_Please review_ Deceiving Loss

Michael woke shaking and disorientated and immediately vomited. Spilling the contents of his stomach over his shirt and bed spread. Unsteadily he got up as fast as his body would allow and hastily made his way to the bathroom to remove the remaining contents of his stomach. He sat for several minutes at the base of the toilet and waited for the feeling to subside. He recognized it, along with the desire to have more.

Removing his shirt, he washed his face and brushed his teeth. Exiting the bathroom to find Detective Paxson sitting watching him.

"I think you should go to the ER and get checked out. You didn't look like you slept well either."

"How long have you been here?" He asked still disorientated.

Looking at her watch, "About 3 hours. So do you want to grab a new shirt and we can go and have you looked at?"

"I'm fine." he said trying to clear his head. "I wasn't feeling well before the explosion. It is probably just that." Pulling the comforter off the bed and throwing it into a laundry bag.

"How about all that bruising, is that part of you not feeling well." She said sarcastically, feeling like he was lying to her again.

Michael looked down at his abdomen and sides, he did have some bruising left from the beatings. He knew she wasn't stupid and could tell the difference from a fresh bruise and a healing bruise.

"That is our friend the bomber, he didn't like my answers to his questions."

"Do you care to elaborate on that story?" she asked as she stood from the chair.

"Not really." He said smiling at her.

"Is that why he blew up my hotel?"

"He was covering his tracks. The two bodies you are going to pull out of there helped him do this." Pointing to the bruising.

"Are you trying to get yourself arrested? That is motive."

"This guy is good. He is careful. Plans every detail, every step. You are good, but not good enough to get this maniac. We need each other, and besides I would never blow myself up."

Pulling the refrigerator door open, Detective Paxson pulled out a water from the fridge and began to open it. Michael looked at his night stand with the half bottle of water and the open yogurt and then back at her. "Don't drink the water..." he blurted out as she took a long drink from the plastic bottle.

"What did you say?" she said lowering the water.

"Nothing." watching her then noticing the empty bottle next to her seat and shaking his head.

"The yogurt." He said softly to himself.

"I have to go, I have to get back to the hotel and my job. I am glad you are feeling better, you were a little out of it when we arrived and quickly went down hill from there. I didn't want to leave you alone. Are you sure you are OK? You look terrible!"

"I'm fine, really...fine. Thanks for the ride...and for staying."

"You are going to help me catch this guy right?"

"Yes, we are going to get him. You can have all the credit." He smiled at her.

"I don't want the credit, I just want to get this guy off the streets."

Michael walked her to the door and opened it for her, he wasn't sure if it was the burst of hot air from the outside, but his knees buckled slightly and she caught him as she half put her jacket back on.

"Whoa!, You need to lie down again. Can I call someone for you?" She said helping him to the bed again.

"Call Fi. Oh crap, I didn't call her earlier. She is probably worried."

"What is her number?" Mike's head began to pound. "In my jacket pocket, she is in my phone contacts."

Detective Paxson rifled through his pockets and found the three parts that used to be his phone.

"It looks like more damage from the explosion." Showing him the phone.

Sighing loudly, "OK, can I borrow your phone?"

Detective Paxson removed her phone from her pocket. "I really do have to go, so make it quick."

Michael dialed the number and no answer.

Fi listened to the phone ring and looked at the number dialing in. She did not recognize it, nor did she feel like talking to anyone. He blood pressure was through the roof, her face angry and hot tears dripped from her eyes from both relief and pain. She had arrived just moments earlier and was getting out of the car when she saw the scene unfolding. After carefully parking a good deal away from the entrance, she saw the door to the loft open and in the door way was Michael with a woman. A woman she recognized as Detective Paxson.

The woman was putting on the coat from her suit, while Michael was dressed only in pants and without his shirt. Suddenly the two embraced and returned into the loft. It happened in just a few seconds. A few terrible seconds. Fi listened to the phone stop ringing and without a word, backed the car out of the parking spot and pressed on the gas.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Mending fences.

"Mom, it's Michael."

Madeline wasn't sure it was really him on the phone. His voice cracked a little.

"Michael are you OK?"

"I'm fine mom."

"I was so...we were so worried. We didn't know..."

"I am sorry mom. I didn't want to worry you. I was a little out of it for a while, but I'm feeling better. Do you know where Sam is?"

"He is here with me at the hotel. He is sleeping."

"Is he OK?"

"He is a little banged up, but he should be fine. Fi is out looking for you. We were all out looking for you."

"Do you know where she is, she is not answering her phone?"

"She dropped us off at the hotel 20 minutes ago and was headed to the loft to look for you. Where are you?"

"I'm at the loft, I will wait for Fi and then come over to the hotel."

"Be careful Michael. Sam didn't think it was safe to go to the loft."

"It is still not safe, but I have a police detective with me, so I should be fine." Michael smiled up at Detective Paxson. "I will see you soon."

"OK, Michael. Madeline hung up the phone. Relief filled her and a small tear fell from her eye. Out on the balcony she lit a cigarette and enjoyed the wonderful view and the warm sun knowing that at least for now, her son was alive.

Michael hung up the phone.

"Thanks for the phone. My mom was worried."

Detective Paxson put the phone in her pocket, "No problem. Your mom huh!" smiling. " I really need to get going. Will you be OK?"

"Yeah, Fi is on her way over here now. I will grab a ride from her."

"You stay here, I can show myself out this time."

Michael watched her go. It would be nice to see Fi, He needed to talk to her. She had been upset last night, and this morning he had found her on the couch instead of the bed next to him. He had tucked her in before he left, and he could smell the alcohol on her breath. He wondered if that had been the result of their unfinished discussion. They needed to talk more than he had the night before. She need to know just how he felt. He owed her that much.

Almost 3 hours later Michael knocked at the hotel door and Madeline answered it.

"Where have you been Michael? I have been waiting for you. You said you would be over soon. Three hours is not soon."

"Ma, not now. Where is Fi?" Looking around the room and walking away from his mother.

"What do you mean where is she? She is not here. She went to the loft get you. What did she say when you saw her?"

Michael looked at his mother, confusion in his voice. "I didn't see her, she never came to the loft. I waited for over an hour before I caught a bus to South Beach to get my car."

"Are you feeling OK? She called me and told me she saw you at the loft and you were fine."

"When was that?" Michael said concerned.

"Um, just after your call. Just about the same time." Now Madeline was concerned. "Is she OK?"

"What did she say Ma, word- for- word? Did she sound..funny?"

" I told you what she said, that you were just fine and no she didn't sound funny. No...not really." Madeline paused.

"She said I was JUST fine." Michael repeated, then thought. He had called her phone repeatedly after picking up a new burn phone on his way to this hotel. No answer. "Ma, what do you mean by not really?"

"I don't know Michael, she almost sounded...mad."

Michael closed his eyes and looked up towards the ceiling. What had she seen? Nothing really, but from any distance with the wrong perception it could have been something.

"Michael is she going to be OK? First you, then Fi. I can't take much more of this. Maybe I should sell the house and move to Las Vegas with your brother." She was rambling, and Michael was reviewing his options in his head.

"Ma call her." he finally said.

"Didn't you already try that?"

"Mom, please just call her with your cell phone, your number."

Madeline looked at him with curious eyes. "Why?" As the gears shifted around her head. "Why my phone?"

Michael lowered his head and took a look at the view of the green blue Atlantic ocean in front of the window. It was a nice view, a peaceful setting for that moment and that moment only. "She might be avoiding my calls."

Now Madeline really looked at him and dialed the phone.

"Hello." it was Fi.

"Fi, I was wondering if you are coming back to the hotel anytime soon?" Madeline looked at Michael. A look he did not like.

"Michael is here and he has been trying to reach you."

There was a long pause. "I have a few errands to run, Michael is a big boy. He will be fine on his own."

Madeline reached for her cigarettes and lit one. The tension on the line was palpable. The tension in the room was explosive.

"OK dear. I will see you in a few hours." Madeline hung up.

"What did you do?"

The words cut through him.

"I didn't do anything. It just might look like I did something and Fi is already a little out out of her head today. I have to talk to her. Did she say where she was going?"

"No she didn't say and what does all that mean?"

Michael sighed loudly. "Do they have a nice restaurant downstairs?"

"You are thinking about food at a time like this! Sam is lying in the other room doped up on pain medication. Fi is running around Miami mad at god-knows-what and you want to have lunch!"

"No Ma. I want to buy you lunch and talk to you. Really talk to you. There are things that need to be said. Things about my past that you do not know."

Madeline Westen put the cigarette out and followed her son to the elevator.

Fi pushed her plate to the center of the table after having pushed her food around for a while. She couldn't stomach her lunch at the moment, especially after the call from Madeline. Michael wanted to talk to her, HUH. Hadn't he done enough? He had hurt her enough for one day, for one life. She should have known better. Four years ago she should have stayed in New York. She should have left him alone in that hotel room. Left him to sort out the mess he had made of his life.

When he left her in Ireland years earlier, she had vowed to kill him. Put a gun to his head and shoot him unless he had a good reason for getting out of bed and being gone before the sun rose. Time had lessened her thoughts, her conviction but not now. It was all fresh in her mind. The feelings the betrayal she felt. Now this, twice in a week.

She had made it very clear to him how she felt about him since he returned and each time she was ready to leave he pulled her back in, tugged at her heart. How could anyone live this way? She knew deep down inside it would never be a home with kids and a dog, but she hadn't wanted that much. She only wanted a commitment from him. A promise that he would be here and they would be together. Was that too much to ask?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The 9 mm felt good in her hands. Easing the trigger back she watched as she repeatedly hit close to the center of the target at the shooting range. Emptying the clip she loaded another and slowly and methodically she fired each round with purpose. Loading a third, she repeated the process and finally felt the anger draining.

Her phone continued to ring in her purse as she fired the weapon. Michael called her leaving several messages.

"Fi, please call me back. It's Michael."

"Fi, I know you know I am calling you. Call me back."

"What you saw today was not what it appeared to be. Call me."

"How about dinner, we should talk?"

With the gun still smoking she listened to them. None said what she needed to hear and for her a final needle had been drawn.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Truth (Please review-)

Lunch with his mother had been exhausting and fulfilling, all crammed into a large ball of knots in his stomach. The afternoon had come and gone and evening had finally arrived in Miami. Lying in the hotel bed, he found it difficult to concentrate, to lie still even in the dimming light. He need to go, to move. He feared it wasn't already too late. He couldn't waste anymore time. He needed to find this family before Mintor did.

Fear was not something Michael thought about often, but today he did. He would go against a foe from his past, one that had beaten him. He hoped he was ready since he hid the shaking in his hands and the sweat that beaded on his back. The laced yogurt at the loft had put him on edge, and he hid that too from his friends.

Sam had woken a few hours earlier, after the lunch. A shower and a pain pill downed with a beer was enough to get him up and moving, at least to the balcony where he completed his call.

"Alright brother. I have a plane for you tomorrow afternoon. My buddy is flying to Philly for a meeting and he will give you a ride." Sam said taking a long drink from the bottle before cringing at the pain in his back. "You will have to take care of transportation once you get there."

"Thanks Sam. I think I can handle that much."

"Mike, I don't like this plan, especially with Fi not taking your calls. You really need someone to back you up, and I..."Moving with pain on his face. "I just can't do it."

Mike leaned back in the chair and breathed in the cool evening air. "I will be fine, I was alone for a long time in countries a little more dangerous than Pennsylvania. I think I can handle it."

"This guy, Mintor. He is a first class psychopath Mickey. You need to be careful."

"I'm always careful.."

"What about Jessie, I could call him. Tell him you need his help."

"Right now Jessie is where he needs to be. He doesn't need my name all over his phone records. Nor does he need to be in the middle of something like this. Right now, he needs to keep is nose clean and his...friends at arms length. At least until the investigation is over. I owe him that much."

Sam nodded, he knew he was right. "What about Fi, do you want me to try again?"

"No, when she is ready she will come back home. I will talk to her then."

"Mike," Sam turned to look at him. "You better be careful, she is a dangerous lady. I have always been glad she has been on our side for the most part, but if she is this mad...oh brother!"

"I know Sam, I know."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Michael continued to lie in the bed. His nerves raw, his mind reeling. He was not tired as he ran the plan in his head over and over. Of course Sam had been right, it would be better if Fi could go, but he was also afraid for her. Mintor had chosen an evil course and nothing was beyond his thoughts or deeds. Not even Fi.

He wasn't sure if it was the warmth of the metal or the click of the hammer that was first for him. Either way a gun leaned heavily at his forehead. Sam had fallen asleep again on the couch, and his mother had been moving occasionally in and around the suite. He had assumed the noise was hers, and missed the entrance into the dark room.

Speaking into the dark. "Fi, is this necessary?"

"Very good Michael, how..."

"Your shampoo. I have been close to it for a long time. I can recognize it by now. "

"It is good that you can recognize me in the dark. And yes, it is necessary when you are going to kill someone to aim the gun at them."

Michael swallowed hard before speaking. "I know you were at the loft today and I know you think you saw something."

"I don't think, I know I saw something."

"Sam told you about the explosion, I was a mess. Unconscious for a while..."

Fi pressed the gun firmer into his temple. "Do you think I need an explanation?"

"I think you deserve the truth."

Fi thought for a moment and eased back on her grip. "OK, you have a minute."

"When I woke FBI were on the scene. Detective Paxson agreed to get me out of the building if I would catch the bomber for her. I couldn't drive and she drove me home. My phone was trashed and I passed out for a while when we got there and almost for a third time when I went to walk her out of the loft. That is when you saw her grab me, isn't it?"

Fi was quiet.

"If she hadn't caught me, I probably would have fallen down the stairs. She helped me back into the loft and then she left after I tried calling you, Sam and my mom with her phone. That is all Fi. That is all I have. The truth! You have to believe that you would mean more to me than some meaningless one night stand or affair. After all that we have been through..."

Fi lowered the gun. She wasn't sure of her thoughts or her memory of the day. He had given her a reason to trust him, but she also had a reason to not trust him, and it was coming down to trust. Just trust. Her mind swirled with confusion. She continued to be quiet.

"I have to do a job tomorrow. In Pennsylvania. I have a 3:00 PM flight out of the local airport. Cessna 22451. I could use your help."

He didn't even hear her footsteps, just the door close behind her as she left the suite. He closed his eyes. Either way, he may regret this decision.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

Michael sat in the car at the terminal and looked at his watch. It was nearly three o'clock. He had met with Burdy, Sam's friend and discussed the upcoming flight just moments ago and now he waited. Burdy was doing a last minute pre flight check on his plane and Fi was still nowhere to be seen. Her cell phone had gone to message the last time he had called, which was 10 minutes earlier.

Stepping from the car, he locked the doors after removing the duffel bag he had in the trunk. He stepped into the sun and lifted his face to the warm rays. It was a beautiful day in Miami, 76 with bright blue skies and low humidity. An amazing December day. A far cry from their destination. In Philadelphia the afternoon temp was 36 with a freezing rain and snow was expected by midnight. It had been a while since Michael had seen snow. It had been a while since he was out in the cold.

"Are you ready." Burdy called from the side of the plane.

Looking around and finding no one, Michael stepped towards him."Good to go." he responded.

Burdy climbed into the cockpit of the small plane and put the headset on and handed Michael one as he sat next to him. "I thought there was two of you?" Burdy asked.

Michael looked at him. "No, just me."

"Well buckle up, the takeoff is great, but the weather up there is a bit iffy. Might make for a bumpy landing."

Michael looked at him again with a hard stare.

Burdy caught the look."Oh don't worry about that! We will be fine. I have flown in worse stuff than just a little rain and snow." as he powered up the engine.

Michael sat back still tense. His hands folded tightly on the edge of the arm rests.

Burdy smiled. "Sam didn't tell me you were afraid of flying."

Michael swallowed hard. "I'm not, it's just small planes. I'm good with the big ones."

"No difference really, we just bump around a little more. You good with that?"

"Not so much." Michael said back.

The plane moved out from the front of the hanger and slowly gained a little speed on it's way to the runway. Burdyy maneuvered the plane to the line of airplanes waiting to take off. They were third. Still doing pre flight checks, Burdy paid no attention to Micheal's grip on his seat. By the time he was done, they were next in line for takeoff. Burdy turned the plane onto the runway and pushed the throttle down. The plane began to move fast down the runway, gaining momentum. Michael grabbed the chair firmer and readied himself. Suddenly Burdy pulled back on the throttle and the plane slowed down as he made a sharp left turn towards the hangers.

"What are you doing?" Michael said holding his neck from the quick maneuver. "Why are you stopping?"

Burdy looked at him. "Sorry, the tower asked me to abort the takeoff. They must be seeing something I'm not."

Returning to the hanger, Burdy removed his headphones. "I gotta pee and it looks like you two need to talk. You have ten minutes." Pointing to the woman standing in front of the hanger.

Michael turned to look. Fi stood in the door way. Large round sunglasses hid her eyes from the bright sun. A large suitcase at her feet and a thick down coat shoved under her arm with matching Ugg boots rounded out her outfit.

Michael climbed out of the seat and headed for her.

"I thought you were not coming."

Fi brushed past him, "I'm not here for you. I'm here for your mother and maybe Sam."

"Thank you Fi." Michael said as humbly as possible.

Fi turned to him. "Don't thank me yet Michael. I still haven't decided if I should put a bullet in your brain or not."

Fifteen minutes later they were high in the sky with a great view of the Atlantic Ocean to their right and Miami to their left. Fi had taken Micheal's seat in the front of the plane and Michael had taken one of the four rear seats. Except for Burdy rambling on about the good ole' days with Sam, the flight would have been word free. Michael sat and listened quietly, but he watched Fi. He watched the curve of her neck as it moved gently into her soft cotton shirt, her hair move across her shoulders as she turned her head, and the shape of her cheeks and nose as they watched the ground below disappear below the building clouds. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to soothe her, to reassure her, but he knew it was better if he just let her work it out in her own mind. He knew she would eventually come to the truth that she knew deep down inside about their relationship.

The plane landed a few hours later in Philadelphia. The landing had been rough for Michael, but easier on the pilot and Fi. The rain had taken a small break and the winds had died down just slightly as the plane eased down onto the runway and finally stopped in front of a large hanger at Philly's Northeast Airport.

The three climbed from the plane and stretched in the cold air. The wind had picked up slightly and darkness had come to the east coast.

"You two need a ride?" Burdy asked while helping Fi with her jacket then putting his own on.

Micheal's arms were crossed in front of his chest and his suit coat was wrapped around him tightly as he shivered slightly. "Maybe just a lift to one of the main terminals."

Burdy looked at him again. "No problem. You did bring a coat? It is going to get real cold tonight."

Michael shook a little more. "I'm fine, how about that ride?"

Burdy smiled. "OK, the golf cart is just inside the hanger."

Michael looked at Fi as she grabbed her large suitcase and he grabbed his small duffel bag. He spoke under his breath, "Golf cart!" before sighing.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Winding roads

"Are you sure you can handle this Fi. I don't need anything blown up, or anyone killed. We just need a car. I need you not to get noticed."

Fi looked at him as if she could kill him with her eyes. "I am certainly able to get us a car that we can use for a few days. Do you think you could manage to find a coat so you don't get noticed?"

Michael looked back at her. "Just get the car!" he said. Tension was growing between the two of them.

"Fine, I will meet you out front in 30 minutes."

Fi headed out the double doors with her suitcase in tow. Michael headed for the Starbucks to warm up and as he did, he passed several of the Terminal stores that sold clothing. Inside one he chose a black wool pea-coat, scarf and gloves. This would do since he didn't own any of his own. Traveling for all those years had taught him one thing, pack lite and buy what you need when you get there. Not standing out is a foreign country was easier if you wore the clothing of the community you were in, and airports were always good for that. A trip to the bathroom and his suit became black jeans, a black wool sweater and his new coat and scarf. Now he fit in. Starbucks wasn't far as he walked past a gift shop. An item on one of the top shelves caught his eye and he felt the urge of an impulse buy. He quickly and gently placed it inside his duffel bag on his way for strong hot coffee and a cup of tea for Fi.

Fi waited patiently for the bus to arrive. It took her to long term parking and with her large case she unloaded and waited at the curb. She watched as cars arrived and families, couples and business men and women parked their cars, removed their luggage and headed for the bus. It didn't take long before she saw what she was looking for. The Jeep Grand Cherokee pulled into a row not far from her. The music inside just a little loud, especially for a man of his age. Mid to late thirties, his hair just so, his clothing the same, she watched him remove the suitcase from the back of the truck. It was large and bulky. A perfect target. He would be gone at least a week.

Fi pushed her case to the side of the curb and prepped. She could smell his cologne even before he walked past her. Her jacket was opened, just enough, and her blouse unbuttoned just a little more than it had been. He did what she thought he would, he looked and she smiled keeping eye contact.

He smiled back. "So where are you goin' ?" He said in a thick south Philly accent.

Tilting her head slightly, she widened her eyes." Hedonism! You?"

"Hey, me too!" he proclaimed, mildly excited. She was not surprised. "You going for a week too?"

"Of course she answered back." Keeping a close eye on him then looking down at her case. "I think I brought too much...clothing."

"Hey, you still gotta dress for dinner. You know what I mean!"

She smiled back as the bus drove up next to them.

On the bus she stood close to him on the nearly full bus and continued their chat. Moments into the ride, the bus turned sharply and she fell into the man.

"Whoa." He said grabbing her around the waist. "You gotta be careful. You'll fall and ruin your vacation."

"Oh thank you!" she said gushing while placing the keys from his pocket into her coat. "You are so nice."

Within minutes the bus pulled up in front of the terminal she had left Michael in.

"This is my stop." she said to her companion.

"Really." Looking at the terminal for West Air. "Are you sure? I don't think they fly to Jamaica."

"Oh I have a layover in Texas for a night or two. You know...Family."

He nodded in agreement. "Let me help you with your bag." he said picking up the large case. "This is heavy. I will look for you in a few days."

"That would be nice." she said back and kissed him on the cheek.

He smiled at her from the bus.

"What was that about?" Michael said as he walked up behind her and handed her the tea.

"Oh nothing. He was just a nice fellow." Looking Michael over. "I see you finally dressed for the weather."

Ignoring the sarcasm in her voice "So where is the car?"

"At the parking lot. We just need to catch the next bus." Taking a sip of the hot liquid. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'm going to be."

It was an hour and a half drive to their destination, a large Inn on the riverbank that separated New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The town surrounding it was small and quaint But difficult to see in the dark. Fi could hear the rush of the water from the river behind the building.

"Have you been here before?" She said to Michael since he seemed to know where he was going.

"Yes, a long time ago for a brief visit. It didn't go well."

"So they are close to here? This family..."

"There is a walkway over the river that is not far. They are just about a mile from there."

"Are we going tonight?"

"I think the morning might be better. Me showing up in the middle of the night might not be the smartest move. I am not their favorite person."

"There seem to be a lot of that going around." Fi quipped back.

"Fi, before we go in there, I know you have some legitimate reasons to hate me right now and all I can do is say I'm sorry but you also have some things that are running through your head that are just not what they appear."

Fi stood looking at him with her arms folded in front of her.

"Can we maybe have a nice dinner and talk about that?"

Fi thought for a second before responding. "No, I'm not ready to talk."

Michael rolled his eyes. She could be very stubborn. "OK, can we at least pretend to be a couple for this op?"

Fi smiled. "OK" she said as she headed for the door.

Inside the two of them walked to the check in desk. A robust woman with apple cheeks and a bright smile sat behind it.

"May I help you?" she said.

"Yes, I called this morning. A room for the Reilly"s."

The woman looked down at her computer screen. "Yes, there it is. A suite with a king size bed over looking the river. That is one of our best rooms."

Fi stepped forward."You are being a little presumptuous aren't you John? We aren't even married yet." holding up her empty ring finger. " Do you have two smaller single rooms?"

Fi could tell that Michael was grinding his teeth through his smile.

The woman looked up from her desk, slightly flustered and typed quickly into her computer. "Um...Um.. we do, but one is on the road side. With not much of a view. Is that OK?"

"John, you don't mind, do you dear?"

"No not at all." he spat out.

"Would you mind getting the luggage out of the car while I finish the check in."

Michael cocked his head to the side and gave her a look before turning towards the car. She had won round one.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Sleep deprivation

It was still dark outside when Michael decided to get out of bed. After tossing and turning for most of an hour he decided he wouldn't be able to go to sleep again. The evening had been disastrous. Fi had disappeared soon after he gave her her luggage. He ate alone at the hotel bar that overlooked the river below. The night time view of the river was amazing, even with the light rain that seemed to continue through the night. He wished he could have had Fi to talk to her, to make her understand and to review the plan he had for them.

He had tried to get her to join him, but she appeared at her door wrapped in a dark blue robe, her hair in a towel and a scowl on her face.

"What do you need Michael? You said your operation starts in the morning. Tonight I am having a relaxing bath. My room has a great claw foot tub and downstairs they sold me a wonderful bubble bath and sea salts."

"We need to talk Fi."

"I told you I am not ready to talk, but maybe it is more than talk that you want to do?"

"Fi!"

"Don't Fi me. I will be downstairs at 7 sharp." She tried to close the door.

His foot stopped her. "How about dinner?"

"You should try the room service, it was fantastic." she stamped on his foot with hers as she slammed the door in front of him.

"Damn it!" He said to the closed door.

Michael sat at the edge of the bed. His hands still shook as after effects of the drugs they had forced on him. He still felt a little weakened by all of it, but his mind felt sharp. Dressing in jogging pants, a sweat shirt and running shoes he exited out the front door of the hotel and took a right towards the bridge.

Running through the cool damp air was refreshing and invigorating. The rush of the wind above and the water below made him glide in the night air. Over the bridge and into the park he ran until he reached a path. The path finally filtered through some thick trees and brush before emptying out onto a dead end street. There were no lights except for a porch light 50 or so meters away. Within moments he stood in front of the house.

The porch wrapped around the front of the house and down one whole side and seemed to disappear into a fence as it went. On the other side of the house stood a second building, a garage if he remembered correctly. A small light glowed from inside the house. As he stepped on the porch he disconnected the wire to the motion sensor light that should have caught his approach and peered in the front window.

In the darkness, it was difficult to see. Fifteen years had been a long time. They could be gone, though he doubted it. This was a safe place. A move would have meant new jobs and new information moving around about them. They had fit in nicely here. A good town for tourists in the summer season and quiet winters. They had opened up a gift shop and the last time he checked, were doing nicely with their stipend from the government and their previous personal wealth. Their house was large and the land private at the end of a quiet street. For a retired traitor, what else could they ask for.

Moving along the porch he passed around to the side and down to the back of the house. A large deck with outdoor seating had been closed up for the winter, and a nice set of french doors opened up into a dining room. Removing the lock set from his pants, he played with the lock for a moment and finally it clicked open, a little louder than he hoped. Waiting, he heard the slight chime of the alarm as the door opened. Just as he had thought, time had made them forget the security that was put in place for them, and tonight, they had not set the alarm, as they probably had done a lot as the years rolled by.

Inside the dinning room, he turned to the kitchen. Even in the dark, he could tell it had been redone lately. He moved into the hall and found what he needed. Pictures of family hung on the wall. Turning on a small flash light, he examined them from the beginning. Though the faces were older, and the children had grown into young adults, he was in the right house. He had found them again.

At the end of the hall, he found the stairs and slowly climbed up them with some creaking as he went. Each seemed louder than the other. At the top landing, he found a door slightly open and peeked in. The single bed had not been slept in, and it was definitely a boys room. No surprise. He could be at college, he would be the right age by now.

A second room also had an empty double bed though the decor was more guest room than a child's. Another room was an office of some type and double doors ended the upstairs hallway. The doors were closed. He would need to open them. Grabbing the handle, he turned slightly then heard the noise. Just inside the door, it was a scuffle at first then a shuffle of footsteps. Michael waited, afraid to move. The steps had not been in his direction. He could hear his own breathing in the dark as he listened. Finally a toilet flushed and Michael sighed with relief. A live person in the house, meant that Mintor had not arrived before him. It was a huge weight off his mind. He hadn't been sure what he had told them. He had been tortured before and drugged, but he had never given information and neither had he done so this time.

Retracing his steps, he returned to the kitchen and then out to the dinning room through the double french doors and closed them behind them as he exited. He would return in the morning with Fi. He needed to warn these people that their past had come back to haunt them.

The rain had picked up slightly along with the wind, and by the time he was back at the inn he was both tired from the adrenaline subsiding and soaked. Looking at his watch, he could still get a few hours of sleep before he had to meet Fi. Getting off the elevator, he passed her room and would have kept going except for the item on the floor. He picked it up. It was just a simple, a band of leather with three beads on it. He recognized it. It was Fi's. He had bought it for her at a street fair in Miami after she admired it. She had smiled at him like a child on Christmas morning. She always did when he bought her gifts.

Returning to his room he retrieved his gun. Checking her door, the handle turned and he opened the door. Gun first, but it was not needed. She was gone. The room was trashed as he stood dripping on the wood floors.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Tracking Point

( Please review- and suggest changes. I know how this will end, but I can add things if you want to read them.)

"I don't know Sam, there is nothing I know at this point. She is just gone."

"Mike there has to be something, something you missed."

"I have been over her room a half a dozen times. Her clothes are still there, tossed around. There was an obvious struggle and just the bracelet outside."

"Do you think she dropped it or left it for you?"

"Knowing Fi, she left it for me."

"Was there anything significant that you an remember about that bracelet. Any other clue she would be trying to tell you?" Sam asked.

Mike sat in his car and the shaking in his hands seemed to be getting worse. He wasn't used to being the one getting chased, he wasn't used to being the person one step behind. "I don't know."

"Do you think it's Mintor?"

Mike had not thought of that possibility. He had left Miami, secretly, but he did leave. Maybe there was more to this than he was thinking. How would Mintor have known where he was going? How could they find him in a few hours. In this remote part of Pennsylvania. Even their pilot didn't know where their final destination was. "Sam, the flight was clean except the flight log, but that would only record the airport. Not the car we borrowed or our final destination." Mike was confused at he searched his brain for answers. "I hope it is Mintor. I can not even fathom another chapter to this nightmare."

"It has to be some sort of tracking device. When they had you, do you have any of that clothing with you?"

"I think my mother was thinking of burning them. There isn't anything else. I wasn't wearing shoes."

"Yeah,... Mike I have a thought, but... I thought it was just me. In the hotel right before the explosion, I heard you yell to get out. Was there a delay before it went off?"

Mike thought for a moment. The explosion was not a clear memory for him. "Maybe, I don't know I was still a little messed up."

"If Mintor delayed the explosion then he was waiting for us. He could have had that stage set waiting for us to walk right into it. He didn't want you dead Mike. You are the answer to his question, but he did need to follow you. He knew you would lead the way and you have."

"I think you are right. The more I think about it, the more it seemed staged. The explosions in the bedrooms, the slight delay gave us just enough time to get out and not question it. The bodies were dead, but for how long?"

" He must have planted something on you then. A hotel room across the hall would have been safe and easy access to you while you were out. Maybe you escaped the first time before they could set you up. Maybe the explosion was just a diversion to catch you again, to track you. You were wearing shoes at the hotel during the explosion."

Mike thought for a few minutes. "No, my shoes are back at the loft. I changed them. I have a new phone, new clothes even a new duffel bag. I thought I was being careful. He was too, the mercs that started the job didn't finish it. He got rid of them killing two birds with one stone. The second set of Mercs didn't have answers, they knew very little, but I bet they find them lying in a pit in the everglades. He was being very careful. Now a tracking device. It makes sense."

"It could be anything. Multiple trackers. They were in your loft on multiple occasions. They could be anywhere. I'm coming up there Mikey."

"Sam...I don't think that is a good idea. "

"It's really not up to you Mike. You are in danger. Fi is gone and ..."

"Sam, if they wanted me, they could have waited and taken me. They could have been in my room when I returned, but they didn't. No, Fi is like the bomb under my mother's bed. It is leverage to see if I behave."

"I am still coming up there."

"Sam, how is your back? Can you get out of a chair without wincing?"

Sam stood from the couch at the hotel and made the face, without making the noise. "Sure I can, see I just did it."

"Then why are you breathing hard."

"Mike there is a reason I moved to Miami and you are not it."

Mike smiled. "Sam you know your an intricate part of this team and I couldn't do what I do without you, but if you are hurt then you are a liability, one I can't risk. I need you to help me get her back. I need to find her. Look, Mintor is a bomber for hire and has been for a while, but for a few years he has been quiet. He must have made money doing something else or used a different alias. The FBI and I am sure a few other agencies are looking into that hotel bombing in Miami and the two dead mercs. Mintor paid those guys really well to catch me and rough me up and it came from somewhere."

"Now you are thinking. I will go ask a few buddies at the FBI a few questions."

"Sam, contact Detective Paxson at Miami PD. She might be able to help you with some of that."

"Mike, that chick is like explosive TNT. Are you sure you want her involved?"

"She is already involved, she will help."

"Mike you know I don't get involved with your personal stuff, but Fi called me the afternoon just before you two left and told me a little story and asked me if she should go with you. Mike she was crying, Fi doesn't cry often. I told her that it wasn't true and that you needed back up. I vouched for you buddy and she got on that plane. I need to know if I guessed right. That you would not do that to her."

Mike could feel his heart sink. "She is just a friend Sam. You didn't lie to Fi, you know how I feel about her."

"That is good enough for me brother. Now go hide in some hole with just the clothes on your back and wait for me to contact you with info."

"I have a better idea. Call me when you get something."

"Mike, Mike, MIKE!" Sam looked at the phone and the line had gone dead. "Don't do anything stupid."

Mike stepped from the car and returned to his room at the Inn. Showered, dressed and headed over the bridge. He need to take care of one worry first.

Fi woke in a dark room, her head pounding from the headache that seemed to be exploding inside it. Even in the darkness she could see that she was alone. Her feet were tied to each other and her hands had been tied together behind her back. A cloth had been wrapped firmly around her mouth as she lay on her side on the cold wood floor.

She had been sleeping comfortably in the room at the Inn when she felt the sting of the needle enter her arm. The drug worked fast as she felt dizzy before she could sit up. Firm hands behind her held her tight as another set of hands wrapped a cloth tightly around her mouth. The cloth stinking of Chloroform put her out in just a few seconds. She never even had the opportunity to call out for Michael.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Past tense( please review)

Running through the trees and the path Michael finally found the end of the street again. With the sun up he stood in the woods and waited as patiently as he could. Time was ticking by. If they knew where he was, they could easily find them. The Family. The gray sky and the drizzle from the rain made it easy to hide behind the bare branches. He watched first the street in front of him, then the trees behind him. In the early morning it was easy to to listen for steps in the woods, branches shifting or cracking from the weight of a man. It was still quiet after 15 minutes.

Heading to the side he stayed within the trees moving cautiously. He hoped he had not led Mintor directly to them, not again. At the edge of the trees his mind raced back fifteen years. It didn't seem that long ago that he had come here. In the light, the house was basically the same, a few new additions, a color change maybe, but still the same. He hoped the hatred had been filtered out a little.

It was raining the first time he came here. Climbing from the car had been difficult then, both emotionally and physically. The wounds from the Humvee explosion were still not healed. Almost nine weeks after he still felt the effects. His handler had sent a team for him, to track him down. He had vanished and they knew why but not where. They were not aware that he lay in a red cross hospital tent clinging to life for several weeks and when he came too, he faked his mental recall knowing that he wasn't welcome in the country he was in and may not be welcome in his home country again. He had made a decision for love and not country and as he lay in pain he reviewed the only options he thought he had. He would remain a nobody without a home or a country. But someone at the hospital knew, maybe it was his dialect, maybe his look, but they knew he did not belong.

It took the team six weeks to find him. Lying on his side on a cot, still finding it hard to stand without help, they took him. Swift and blindfolded they removed him. The team dressed in black and was heavily armed, he was placed roughly in the back of a truck against the rantings of the doctor and nurse on duty. He had been ready, he knew his fate. There would not be a trial, there would not be a meeting. There would be an interrogation, a difficult one and a firing squad. He had seen it before. What he had done was nothing short of treason to the people who had taught him what he knew.

Surprised he woke in a hospital bed, a private room in an American military hospital. The IV in his arm filling him full of fluids and pain medication. It was the first time in weeks that he moved without hurting. The Red Cross was constantly out of supplies and the newest and most severe cases got what they had when they had it. His recovery was quick with modern medicine and a good diet. In ten days he was a new man, though he still limped and his arm was re casted after the latest surgery.

His handler had come to see him, there would be no official reprimand, just a change. Michael would agree to be paired with a Senior Operative for a specified time. They would remold him. Teach him to use and destroy, to leave assets behind, to have no remorse. Larry was to teach him everything he knew. After all the operation had been deemed a success. The family had been moved. The CIA had what they wanted and no one really cared that an operative had gotten hurt. No one except her family.

Before they could get to him, he felt that he should tell them. It had been his fault after all that she was dead. He hadn't set the bomb to explode, he hadn't pressed the button, but he had killed her just the same. She had been a pawn in his game of espionage. She had been an innocent bystander that just got in the way.

So he stepped up to the door and rung the bell. Her mother answered it. Her clothing different, her hair a different color, but it was her an older version of Lena.

"I need to talk to you."

"You need to go." She said coldly back.

"Please, just a few minutes." he leaned on the cane he held firmly in his hand.

"You are not welcome here, now go." she began to shut the door.

"It is Lena, she... she died in an automobile accident."

Her face did not change, nor did she skip a beat. "My daughter died the day you came into our lives. We have done everything you have asked, now respect us and leave what is left of my family alone." The door closed in front of him.

Michael stood on the porch feeling empty and alone. Just like he had done so long ago. He hesitated before ringing the bell. It was the foot steps he heard from inside first.

A tall pretty girl with dark eyes opened the door. She was dressed in sweats, a blue pullover jacket and i-pod headset in her ears. Her hair was sweaty and wet as if she had just come from running.

"Hi" she said. Any hint of her accent gone but perhaps not forgotten.

"Hello, are your parents home?"

She looked down at the watch on her wrist. "Yeah, but they are still sleeping. It is a little early for visitors. Who are you?"

"It is really important that I speak with them."

"Well." looking him up and down. "Why don't you just come back later."

She began to close the door and he grabbed her wrist firmly and knocked it down before stepping into the hall firmly. "My name is Michael Weston, I am the spy that sent you and your family to the United States. There is someone on their way, right now who wants to kill you and your entire family. Now do think you could WAKE THEM UP?"

Sasha looked at him. He was not joking, she was sure of it. She backed up and began to run up the stairs screaming.

"Who are you? What do you mean coming to my house so early in the morning, threatening my family?" The large man, 6' 3"at least 250 lbs lumbered down the stairs towards Michael. His wife and daughter standing hesitantly at the top of the stairs.

Michael stepped from the shadow of the hall, his face still glistening from the rain outside.

"You, YOU! Get out!" The man recognized Michael immediately. " I have told you that I would kill you if I saw you again."

Pulling a gun from beneath his robe he began to aim it at Michael. Reacting quickly, Michael grabbed the mans wrist and the gun in the same movement and pushed up and out releasing the weapon from his hand and turning his left hand grabbed the man behind the neck, still in a forward momentum and eased him behind to the wall. His face hit hard as Michael held firmly and moved the gun up with his right hand and pointed it to the mans head.

"I don't want to be here any more than you want me here Amir. I know the last time we parted it was under bad circumstances."

"I should have killed you for what you have done!" The large man said pushing back and out of the hold.

Michael raised the gun so he could see it clearly pointed towards his face.

His wife screamed from the top of the stairs and his daughter cried out.

Michael lowered the weapon. Adrenaline and hate was not a good combination. Not for him.

"What do you want?" Amir asked.

Michael took in a large breath in. "Several days ago a man contacted me. He wanted to know where you where. He plans on killing you and your family."

Amir took a step back as Mike released his neck.

"Why would this man want to kill me, why now? Why after so long?"

"You were in this game, you know the rules. I was one of the only people to know where you ended up. You were safe while I was working, but...I was burned."

"So you sold us out?"

"No, I am here to get you to leave, to run. The man coming after you has a hidden agenda. He is someone from my past and maybe yours." Michael looked at Amir for any signs of recognition. "His name is Mintor."

Amirs face changed, he had recognized the name. He knew it.

"This man has no argument with me, why is he coming here?"

"So you know him?"

"Yes, he was well known. A business man like you claimed to be. Briefly, very briefly..."

He stopped and looked up along with Michael. They could hear a car door shut outside.

Mike looked out the window. Three men stepped from a black Ford Explorer across the street. Michael recognized one of them, on the passenger side was Mintor. The two others carried sacks. Michael could only guess what Mintor had in mind.

"They are here!" he said, his mind going a hundred miles an hour.

"You have told them how to find us!" Amir said under his breath. "You have shown them the way. We have lived in peace all these years..." The man raised his hands and swung at Michael catching him off guard and pushing him back and into the door.

Protecting himself, he moved to the side and loaded a round into the chamber of the man's 9mm Glock. "I didn't bring them here. I came here to warn you, now I have 17 shots to get this right. I can shoot at them or you. Just give me a reason."

Amir watched as one man maneuvered around the side of the house, a large weapon in his hands a bag over his shoulder. "What are they doing?"

"Get upstairs." turning the handle of the weapon towards him. "Lock yourself in your bedroom. Shoot anything that comes in. I am going to distract them."

Amir hesitated.

"Do you have a car in the garage?"

"Yes, two!" Amir answered.

Micheal's head swirled with ideas. "It is going to get loud down here pretty soon. I want you to wait until it begins and get your family out the bedroom window and down onto the lower room. From there you can get to the ground and to the garage. Do not wait. Drive as fast as you know how to. Go somewhere that is new. Don't visit friends or family. Pay cash." Looking around the room, he grabbed a pencil from a desk close by and paper and scribbled a number "Call this number when you get somewhere and it feels safe. The man that answers will help you."

Amir stood looking at him, "What about you?"

"I told you I am going to distract them."

"Why would you help us?"

"GO!" Michael yelled and watched Mintor from the window.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21_ Defying Grace Please review

Sam sat in the coolness of the Miami morning. The sun had just come up again and he and Madeline were still enjoying the nice hotel room that Barry's credit card had supplied.

Madeline stood across the balcony from him. Her morning cigarette burning in her hand and the room service coffee steaming in the other.

"You are up early Sam?" she stated enjoying the magnificent morning sun rise.

Sam had a scowl on his face. He knew he had promised Mike a few things, but the overwhelming fear he had in the pit of his stomach was hard to get past. Fi was missing and absolutely in trouble. Mike was alone, and being hunted and he was enjoying a cup of coffee on a balcony with a great ocean view. He knew he was suppose to get well and take care of Madeline, but it ate at him. He could make the phone calls Mike wanted from anywhere, even a flight to Philly.

"Sam what is wrong?"

Sam grumbled something incomprehensible.

"Sam, was that Michael on the phone this morning? Is he alright? Is Fi?" She was concerned. Sam was usually in a good mood and usually not up this early in the morning.

Sam was ignoring her. He seemed to be in his own world.

"SAM!" she yelled.

"Sorry Maddie. I 'm a little distracted and concerned.'

"Just concerned? You look like someone just killed your dog. There is more to that than just concern."

He didn't want to tell her. Mike would be disappointed and mad that now he had to worry about his mother too. "I can't."

Madeline looked at him sternly. "Sam, if my son is in trouble you need to help him more than you need to babysit me."

"Mike would..." Sam began.

"Mike would thank you for helping him, especially if he is in over his head and believe it or not, he can get in over his head. Especially with Fi, that girl likes to find trouble, though so does Mike." She lit another cigarette."I think it is time for me to get out of here anyway. I am getting sick of being locked up in this hotel."

"I don't know what you are thinking of Maddie, but I don't like it already."

"I'm thinking that I have been paying too much attention to Michael and I should go and visit my other son. After all, he is expecting my first grand child."

"So you want to fly to Las Vegas to see Nate?" Sam thought for a moment. "That would work, he has his head down right now, but that could still work."

Madeline lit another cigarette. "OK, I'm going to pack. You make the arrangements."

Sam smiled for the first time that morning and picked up his phone.

Fi sat shivering in the chair. She had been moved off the floor to the chair an hour or two before.. Her hands and feet were bound tightly, and the chair was bolted to the wooded floor. Her feet were sore from the cold below them and she dreamed about a pair of socks and her goose down comforter frequently. Michael, though she was mad at him, would be a nervous wreck. It had been her idea to have separate rooms. If Michael was there...She couldn't think of such things.

He would be worried about her, though up till now it had been quiet. Limited exposure to her captors. She needed to use her time wisely. Think about what they wanted. They would be here soon, but she knew nothing. Mike had told her very little about where the family was. Then it hit her, where was he? Did they get him too? She was losing track of how long she had been gone and her priorities.

Her headache had subsided enough for her to look around the dark room. Not even a light from an adjacent door was visible, but there was a smell. Sweet almost a perfume. She couldn't pinpoint it. It lingered in the air and swirled around her head. The ties on her limbs were secure, she would not be able to break from them. Someone knew what they were doing.

The door opened moments later, the darkness from behind the figure gave her no view of the interrogator, but the smell was back and stronger. The figure walked around her and a bright light snapped on above her face and blinded her.

"What do you want?" Fi said trying to keep her voice as calm as possible while blinking into the stream of light to see if she could see anything. She could not.

The figure kept up the slow circular pace around her, stopping occasionally to drag something along the wall leaving the room with a strange screech sound against the walls.

"If you wanted to go for a walk I'm sure you can find a nice path through the trees along the river. It looked nice from my room." Fi said sarcastically.

The figure stopped and the direction of the pace reversed and the screech became more prominent until it suddenly stopped. The figure lurched forward towards her. Fi could feel the cold steel of a blade drag slowly across and then stop as it sliced just the top layer of her skin beneath her chin. She feared taking a breath since it sat so tightly against her skin.

The figure pulled away as quickly as it started and left the room. Not a word was said, but Fi recognized the smell. It was a woman's perfume.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22- Escape Plan PLEASE REVIEW

Michael could hear the the door close upstairs and a large piece of furniture being dragged in front of it.

"At least they were paying attention." He thought out loud.

Pulling his weapon from his waistband he loaded a round into the chamber. He needed to be ready. Stepping back to the interior wall and away from the window, Michael fired and shattered the front double hung window.

"I like that Michael, It definitely got my attention. Mintor yelled from outside.

"I have a few more of those if you want to send your guys over, I will show them." Michael responded.

Mintor stood on the front lawn behind a large dutch elm of great age and width. "Now why would you want to do that. This doesn't have to be violent or bloody, not even explosive. We can have a nice chat. You can put your gun down and let me talk to the family inside."

"They are gone Mintor. You are too late."

"That is a nice try Michael, but a lie. No, I know they are still in there. Now why don't you just come out and we can talk about this like two civilized human beings."

"Do you really just want to talk Mintor? Have you mellowed over the years from your, bomb first ask if children are inside later."

Mintor ground his teeth. Yes his weapon of choice was an explosive but there was something in the way he said it. "You don't want to make me mad, do you? After all, Ms. Glenanne and I had a really nice chat a little while ago. Do you want me to go back and talk to her while I'm still angry?"

Michael closed his eyes and pictured Fi's face. He couldn't go through this again. "Why don't you come in and we can talk?"

"No, this is only going to work if you come out, otherwise Ms. Glenanne will get a bullet to the back of the head or better yet, a jacket of explosives."

"Fi." Michael said in a whisper to himself and took a deep breath. It never felt good to gamble with a persons life.

"If you knew her, you would know she would never trade her life for others. Not even mine."

"Last chance Michael, we are coming in." Before the words were done, an explosion rocked the back of the house sending shards of glass and debris around the house and causing pictures to fall from the walls.

Grabbing the living room couch, he turned it over and scrambled to get under it before the explosion at the front of the house blew away the front door, part of the wall and the window Michael had put a hole threw just a few minutes earlier.

At first it was blinding smoke and settling debris, but slowly he could see it clear. Things crashed around him as more nicknacks were lost to the damage, but he listened carefully. The shuffling of feet from the wood floors above seemed to be gone. He could only hope his plan would give them time.

It took only moments before the first of Mintors men were milling around the mess, he could hear him making his way down the hall Michael had traveled this morning towards the front foyer and den. Steps were soon heard where the front door used to be.

"Six minutes" he heard one of them say. They must have timed out how long before fire and police responders could be on the scene.

"Find them!" he heard Mintor demand from his small team.

Clearing debris off of what used to be stairs, Mintor's men climbed up towards the second floor. Clearing a path as they went.

Michael squeezed out from behind the fallen objects and the safety of the couch. Looking quickly, he could only see Mintor. He stood at the base of the stairs looking up then stepped back out through the destruction to the porch.

It was Micheal's opportunity. Getting around the debris and to the entrance of the den, Michael ran at Mintor with all he had and hit him mid sternum. Knocking him off the porch and into the debris on the wet grass. Caught off guard, Mintor landed hard and he could feel the wind as it was escaping from his lungs. He gasped and grabbed at anything he could of Micheal's. Swinging wildly, he connected with the side of his head. Michael fell back wards and kicked Mintor in the chin as he was regaining his stance.

Michael and Mintor stood unsteadily both ready for the next round when Michael heard the screech of the car tires on the blue stone drive way to the back of the house. An SUV barreled forward and Mintor scrambled for his gun, knowing, in that split second the family he was there to kill was escaping.

Michael took another hard dive into him causing him to roll away from the gun and Michael to get kneed hard in the chest. Michael gagged at the feeling of pain and shortness of breath.

Mintor regained his balance and again headed for the gun as the SUV's wheels skidded out onto the wet street.

He might get off a shot if hurried. Sliding on the grass, Mintor grabbed the gun as Michael came for him and squeezed off a round in the direction of the SUV smashing the rear view mirror before it slid out, straightened itself, then pulled away quickly.

They were gone. Mintor's anger seemed to boil as Michael fought him for the gun. An elbow to the face for Michael and a fist to the mouth for Mintor, the two scrambled for dominance. Michael, finally swinging around him and grabbing him by the neck pulled him up and knocked the gun from his grasp and into his. He held firmly as Mintor fought, his hand flailing around searching for a target. Mintor could feel himself losing consciousness when the sound of a gun being fired jolted Michael backwards.

Michael felt the bullet rip through the side of his upper right arm as he released his hold on Mintor and both fell to the ground. He was not sure if in another minute or two, Mintor would have been dead from the strangling hold he had on him, but he did know that one of Mintor's men had taken a lucky shot at him from one of the upstairs bedrooms and he had only seconds before they would be on him.

Rolling across the grass and out of the way of a second bullet, Michael ran for cover of the woods. Blood dripped down his arm and into the grass as he ignored the pain and ran for his life.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

The plane landed at the Philadelphia airport just as the rain that had been falling most of the day turned to snow. Sam hated snow and would dread every minute of this trip, but for Mike, he would give his life. He just hoped he could get back to Miami before that happened.

The rental car had been a breeze. Detective Paxson had helped him out and arranged everything. Mike had been right, she was helpful. She had gotten him some of the information that he and Mike had wanted. Mike would be pleased. The mercs from the hotel had been dead almost a day before he and Mike had triggered an explosion that burned their bodies. Convenient and well planned for Mintor . The airline tickets were purchased just around the time of death, cash was paid but no video record was available. A credit card used for the e hotel had been in one of their names, but the partial ID's they found were fakes, good ones, but fake.

The room across from the explosion had mysteriously emptied out after the explosion and the registered guest of the room gone, his name and numbers were also fake. The clerk at the desk was unsure of the guests appearance and the hotel cameras seemed to miss any image of him or her. Also well planned but too obvious, even for Miami PD.

The car ride from the airport had been difficult with the falling snow, but Sam did his best. It had been years since he had driven in these conditions and he couldn't remember the last time that snow had been an obstacle. Mike had given him the name of the Inn and a GPS was able to find it and bring him where he needed to be. Mike's car was there in the parking lot, the one Mike had detailed in the call, but no Mike or Fi, and neither could reached by their cell phone. Sam hoped he could track her with hers.

At the Inn, Sam checked into his room and went to check out Fi's and Mike's rooms. They were empty, but he didn't expect to find them. Mintor would not know he was there, and he could work with out being tracked, at least he hoped he would. Going through Fi's belongings, he hoped she wouldn't mind, but it was an interesting glimpse into the life of a girl he knew very little about. At least personally.

On her dresser was a purse, and leather gloves. The jacket she had worn still hung in the closet as well as some of her clothing, but most of it still lay at the bottom of her suitcase where she had left it. No reason to completely unpack for just two nights. He did notice a nightgown, light blue, soft cotton and lacy hanging neatly in the closet and Sam smiled. That was none of his business, but all of Mike's.

Searching through every inch of her room,Sam could not find it. As long as she still had it, and it was not disabled he could track her cell phone. That was a lot of ifs but it was more than he had a little while ago. At Mike's room it was as expected, neat and tidy and bare thin. He had brought very little with him and Mike had not unpacked as usual. Always ready to go to the next level. "Where are you?" Sam asked himself. It had just been a few hours since he last spoke to him and he hoped in that time he had not gotten in too much trouble, though knowing Mike as he did, he was surprised the town he drove through was still standing. He wouldn't say it out loud, be he was sure he would go to the ends of the earth for Fi. It was probably best left unsaid.

Returning to his room he turned on the computer and tried Mike. No luck. No signal, though that was not unusual for Mike. Now the longer shot. Fi. Typing in her cell address he waited. The screen took an excruciating long time before it too denied his request. "No signal match" flashed on the screen. Sam hung his head. He was dead in the water. No clues for either. Maybe he should have stayed in Miami as Mike had strongly suggested. At least there, he could be protecting Madeline. Though the call from the car ride had confirmed that Nate had picked her up from the airport at Henderson NV and for now she was safe.

Heading down to the bar he looked at his watch. It was nearly 2:OO PM and in his book, it was time for a drink, a big one. Since Pennsylvania was not a Mojito state, he ordered a scotch- neat and sat watching the large television hanging in the bar. After finishing his first, he asked the bartender for a refill when the local news came on. A main gas break had caused the downstairs of a home to burst into flames not far from the state line and Lambertsville. The outdoor snow storm had hampered the efforts to put out the fire, but it was mostly under control now. They were still trying to reach the family, but at this time they were unable to contact them. A neighbor or two had heard the explosion and each thought that it might be suspicious. The Fire Marshal and local police were investigating.

Sam watched with peaked interest.

"Isn't that something the bartender said watching the TV as he poured the second round."

"Is that close by?" Sam asked.

The bartender looked at him. "Sure, just over the bridge, maybe a mile at most."

"The bridge?" Sam asked, unfamiliar with the area

"Yeah, the walk bridge. Just north of the Inn. Maybe a hundred yards."

Sam shook his head. It was more of a coincidence than he would have thought. That has Michael Weston written all over it. Finishing his drink, he returned to his room and got his Beretta Inox and placed it inside his over coat. His weapon held 15 shots in the clip and he neatly tucked a second clip into his pocket. He thought he would need it.

Sam followed the path from the rear of the Inn to the entrance of the walkway. The snow was still falling and almost ½ an inch had accumulated on the ground. Making his way through the path and the trees, it finally opened up to the street. From there he could still see the service trucks as they investigated the scene. There were dozens. He couldn't get close if he wanted to.

Ropes had been set up and a policeman stood guard as Sam approached. Several gawkers stood around watching the activity. By now there was not much to see.

"So what happened?" Sam asked the young looking cop.

Startled and surprised that someone wanted to talk to him, the cop turned to Sam. "Gas explosion."

"Anyone inside? Anyone hurt?"

"No, no nothing like that. Just a fire."

Sam looked around. It did look just like a fire. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe not. Mintor would be careful.

"So who lives there?" Sam asked hoping to get more.

"You mean who lived there? Some Arab family. They own a shop in town." Pointing over his shoulder to the bridge he had just come from.

"Are they at work?" Sam continued to press and surprised, he was still getting answers.

"Naw. The store is closed. I think they think they are on vacation or something. Maybe skiing. They can't reach them. They are going to be pissed when they come home and their house is gone."

Sam agreed. The cop knew nothing, but nothing was more than he had. Re-tracing his steps he headed back towards the bridge. He would try their cell phones again. Reaching into his pocket he pulled the cell phone out, and his ticket receipt came out with it, falling gently into the snow.

"Better not leave that out here." he said to himself and reached down for it. It landed in his foot steps, the snow had compacted down, but beneath it Sam could see something. Moving the ticket and some of the snow, Sam picked up some grass it was stained with a red liquid. Sam looked closer.

"Blood!"

Sam looked around quickly. The snow had lightly covered the area so finding more would be difficult, but not impossible. Just not now. He would have to wait for the area to clear.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Hell's door Please review

The large branch shattered just above his head. The round must have been large in caliber and thus someone was now shooting at him with some sort of high power rifle. Instead of the handguns that had chased him into the forest. Moving as quickly as he could, he ran to the left and zigzagged his way through more trees deeper into the park. He didn't dare cross the bridge or run along the path. Out there would be certain death.

Keeping his head as low as possible he worked his way along the trees and waited for the shooting to decrease. After several minutes it slowed. They had lost sight of him again. Leaning against a tree, and a bush for cover he pulled at his sleeve and opened the bloody area, wincing from the pain. Blood had congealed in the area, but it was still bleeding and a small steady stream dripped from his upper arm and down to his fingers.

Feeling in his pocket, he pulled the cotton lining up from his jeans and ripped it out. The clean white cloth would work for now. Balling it up, he pushed the material into the opening of the wound stopping mid way because he was afraid of passing out. Breathing hard he pushed it in more. It was done and it was all he could do to stop from crying out.

A few meters away, he heard the crunch of a twig as a shoe stepped on it. The man stopped, holding his breath. Waiting to see if anyone was watching, waiting. Michael closed over the ripped material from the sweatshirt on his arm and reached for his gun. The figure moved again, closer to him. Michael didn't breath, didn't move. This needed to be swift and quiet.

Passing close, Michael reacted quickly. Grabbing the man around the neck and hitting him hard against the back of the head with the handle of his gun. The man went limp in his arms as Michael lowered him to the ground and pulled him back to the spot he had hidden in. He checked his pockets, no wallet, no cell phone just a weapon. One down and several to go Michael thought. Mintor had foreseen a chase and prepped for it. A second vehicle arrived just after Michael entered the woods, he had watched from the cover of the trees as three new men stepped from this vehicle. He was lucky that they arrived as late as they did. His plan would have been destroyed if they arrived a two minutes earlier. The only problem was that now he had to run from all of them.

Staying low he moved out again. Trying to move away from the river that was coming up. He could hear the roar of the rushing water not far away. He didn't want to get cornered. They were behind him, but he could not be sure if others had moved ahead and were trying to box him in. He needed to get around them, to work his way through and out. If possible return to the house. With that house burning behind him, police and fire would soon be on the scene. A safety zone. Mintor didn't have the man power to take on an entire police department. Shooting there, even with silencers would get a whole lot more interesting.

Another branch shattered above his head and a second narrowly missed him as he ducked and moved. He could hear voices coming from the direction he was headed. His worst fear was coming true they had moved ahead. Thinking quickly he shifted directions as another bullet just missed his arm and slammed into the tree he was next to. Increasing his speed he jumped over a fallen tree, pushed through some bushes and zigzagged his way through a few trees. Their voices were getting louder, another bullet ripped past him hitting some leaves as he moved out of the way. This time it was a different gun. He could feel them closing in, twigs snapping and leaves rustling turned louder. He could not hide any more, now he needed to fight.

Aiming his gun, he squeezed of three consecutive rounds in the direction of the last shot. Then a few more in other directions. In the thickness of the brush it was hard to see. The gray sky and the sleeting rain made visibility difficult. Shouts and bullets were returned at him. A voice was directed to him.

"You know I have her Michael. How about I trade her for you? I will let her go, just come to me with the information that I want."

Michael closed his eyes. "You know I can't do that. Besides, they are gone. Even I don't know where they have gone."

Mintor looked down at the hand of the man in front of him. Blood smeared it. "We hit him." The man said with a smile. Mintor returned the smile.

"Michael, you didn't tell me you were hurt. What kind of person would leave you out here in the woods alone and wounded. We can help. You are surrounded. I have a rifle pointed at you right now. It was a nice try, a valiant effort but even the great Michael Westen can't get out of this one. Come in before I have to kill you."

Michael swallowed hard. He was trapped, but giving into Mintor meant one thing; certain death for Fi, the family and himself. Possibly his mother and Sam. Mintor wouldn't stop. There would be no mercy.

"Release Fi, now and I will come in."

Mintor smiled. He had him. "Of course. It is just a matter of a phone call."

"I want her to call me in flight, to tell me she is on a plane and she is safe. I want her to have a gun a loaded gun so the pilot won't have any funny ideas. We are going to stay here until that happens."

"Michael, you want us to stay out here in the...woods until she is on an airplane, that could be hours."

"There is a local airport, 15 or 20 minutes from here. Have her charter a plane and a pilot. If you pay enough they can be off the ground in 30 to 40 minutes."

"That is ridiculous Michael, look. It is starting to snow."

"And you need to back your team up. I'm not getting shot by some gun happy Merc."

"Those are a lot of demands for a man not holding the cards, Michael. How do I know you will hold up your end of the bargain."

"I will, I just need to know she is safe. Once she is, I am all yours, but until that time I will shoot anything that moves."

Michael thought for a minute. Dealing with the devil was always hard.

"I know how to contact the family, do you?"

"Damn him." Minter said under his breath. "You have a deal Michael. I get you and the family."

"No, you get me and Amir. The rest of the family goes free."

Mintor stretched his neck. It may be all he would get, but ultimately it would not be his decision.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25- Difficult Choices

Michael shivered in the cold. His clothing wet from the earlier rain and the new falling snow. His arm ached where the bullet had gone in and exited through the side. It would be fine, but just not now. Thirty minutes felt like a life time. He had turned his phone on minutes ago. The one bar blinking from the battery told him that he did not have long before it was dead. He hoped she would call soon.

Mintor had informed him that they had reached the airport moments ago and were waiting for a pilot. Michael waited and thought about her. He loved how her hair curled in the Miami humidity, he loved the new look that warm weather clothing gave her, he loved her, but it never felt right. Part of that was her, but mostly it was him and a past he couldn't forgive himself for.

Fi sat on the floor. She didn't know why she had been moved, she didn't understand it. It didn't make sense other than Michael had intervened. She hoped it was worth the bargain. She hoped he had not given too much. The cool water felt good on her burning throat. The room she sat in was dark, and she could hear large engines outside, but on her way in the burlap bag over her head had masked everything. The small room she was in did not have windows and she knew it was a closet guarded by at least one, if not two people on the outside.

From behind the door she could hear talking, but could not make out the words. It was cold and the filthy jacket she was given was not enough considering she was still dressed in her robe. There had been little interaction between her and her captives. Any interaction had been swift and violent leaving her with several bruises and a slight knife slit under her chin.

Minutes after arriving the door opened and a tall man entered and placed the bag over her head again. Pulling her up with her tied hands he forced her out into the cold again. The wind was howling, and snow hit her face. She could hear the engine of an airplane loud in her ears. She was pulled across and closer to the noise. She was loaded into he plane and the pilot got in moments later. The bag was removed and the door was shut.

The pilot moved the plane forward as Fi could not believe her eyes. She was about to take off, in a snow storm, but take off. She looked at the pilot he looked nervous. The plane was wheels up in just a few minutes and they bounced around the sky in the wind.

The pilot handed her a headset and she put it on.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked.

"They said where ever you wanted to go to." He didn't look at her but he handed her a phone. You are suppose to call Michael.

.

She dialed the number, her fingers shaking as she did.

"Fi, can you hear me?"

"Michael, Michael" she said with tears in her eyes. "Is that you?" She found it difficult to hear him with the roar of the engine.

"Yes" he said smiling. "We don't have much time so listen please. Are you OK?"

"Yes, I think so."

"You should have a loaded gun."

"What?" she said surprised as the call began to break up.

"You should have a loaded gun so you can control the pilot. Have him take you home if you can."

"What about you Michael?"

"It was always you Fi, no one else. Always you. I will come for you." The line died. He was gone. The signal broken by the altitude.

Fi stared at the phone. "Michael, MICHAEL." She placed the headphones back on.

"Where is the gun?" she said angrily, not sure how this pilot fit into the big picture.

"Under your seat." He answered back.

Reaching beneath her, she found a 9mm Glock. She checked the clip and loaded a round into the chamber. It loaded nicely, she hoped it would fire nicely too.

"I need to go back." She said pointing it at the pilot's head.

x

"Alright Michael, you have your proof. Now let us have our little chat."

Michael stood from his position. Mintor wasn't far from him, less than 30 meters.. Dropping his gun as they watched he moved forward his hands up as best he could with the injury. He knew they had a sniper trained on him, just something he could feel, and he could also feel the atmosphere relax slightly as his weapon dropped into the grass.

Mintor moved closer. "You see, that wasn't hard. I told you that we could compromise."

Michael smiled a broad smile.

"I hate to back you into a corner Michael, but there is no other way to talk to you. You simply won't cooperate."

Two men moved close to Michael and with a nod of Mintor's head they forcefully tried grabbing his arms. Moving quickly he shot the palm of his hand up and into one mans jaw then turning swiftly and putting his elbow into the others throat. Both men fell back and into the bushes.

Several other men began to move forward, Mintor put up his hand to stop them.

"I could have you shot for that." He said smiling.

Michael smiled back, "But you won't because you need me. Without me you will never find Amir."

x

The pilot looked at Fi. A bead of sweat had formed on his forehead. "I don't now what kind of game you and your friends are playing. I don't understand this." His hands were nearly white from the grip on the controls.

Fi stared at the man. "What do you mean?" She asked lowering the gun.

"They told me they wouldn't kill her." he rambled on.

"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" Fi yelled at him trying to break him out of the rambling.

"They said to take you up in the plane and once we got to 5000 feet I was to bring you back. I was to tell you anything you wanted to know and they wouldn't hurt her."

"Hurt who?" Fi said.

"My little girl. She is only eight. Only eight."

Fi ran her hands through her hair and stopped half way through. "OK, you will get her back. Just bring me back, but I need you to know that I am just like you, a pawn in their little game. They don't want you or your little girl, they want me.

"Did you log this flight?"

"Yeah. With my company, and they logged it with the tower."

"Good, then someone is expecting you back. Tell them that. They will threaten you, but release you. They don't need cops sniffing around. Just do as they say and please do me a favor. You need to call someone for me."

He looked at her and knew she was telling the truth.

X

Michael took a few more steps closer to Mintor. No one moved in his direction it was subtle.

"Were you ever going to let Fi go?" he said so only Mintor could hear.

Mintor looked at Michael and instantly realized his mistake. He had let a trained killer get too close. Michael moved swiftly, his arm up around Mintor's neck as he pulled the second weapon from behind his back and pointed it to Mintor's head.

The minions moved forward, caught off guard as their leader squirmed under the grip.

"No, no." Michael said backing up and pulling Mintor with him. "Tell them to back away Mintor. You don't want to test me right now."

Mintor could feel the grip tighten around his neck and the coldness of the weapon press a little tighter to his head. He could feel the seriousness of his actions and the anger in his tone.

Michael whispered to him. "If I cut off the head of the snake, will the rest of it just die.'" Tugging at Mintors neck as they continued to back up.

"We still have her, Michael. If I don't return, they have orders to kill her."

"Well maybe I can trade your life for hers, what do you think? Are you worth it?"

"They will never let you leave here alive." Mintor responded. "If they get a shot they will take it."

"If that were true, then I would already be dead. There is no way your sniper couldn't hit me." Mike was nearing the edge of the river. Mintor's team moved slowly, but they moved closer with every minute.

Tell them to back up." Michael choked him a little more and the mans face turned red. You can come with me dead or alive Mintor, I don't care."

Mintor waved with his hands and the men backed up.

"MORE!" Michael yelled. Each of them looked at him and they took another few steps back while Mike forced his captive back onto the gravel off the edge of the steep hill over looking the river. The dark cold water churned below and moved swiftly in the deep canal.

"I can't swim." Mintor said in a last ditch effort.

"Then you will drown." He said with a smirk.

Mike knew he would have only one chance at this. As they passed over the top and angled down. Micheal's grip around his neck became firmer. It took all he had not to snap his neck, but Mintor passed out quickly. Reaching into his pocket and Mintor's he removed two phones. He popped the back battery cover from both and removed Sam's tracking device and placing it in Mintor's phone. It was only good if the phone had power and his was dead. Quickly putting the phone back together, he fired off two rounds into the air. That would keep them busy for a moment and maybe attract the attention of police that were less than a mile away at the burning house. Placing the phone back in Mintor's pocket he headed for the water and escape.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Chatter Chatter (Please Review)

Sam returned with the flashlight and a brush. The snow had tapered off after only a few hours and the total accumulation would be less than an inch on the ground. Finding the spot he was at earlier, he moved in a circle slowly with the brush expanding the circle as he went. Finally a second drop of blood under a thin layer of snow appeared. He could see where it was headed, a trail leading through the woods, then broken branches and more blood smears on the trees branches.

Further in he could see broken and shattered branches. These were not run through, they had been shot at. Chunks from the tree had been ripped away by bullets, and very recently.

"Awe Mike, what happened here?" He said under his breath. "and where are you?"

He was losing the battle with few leads to go on. Feeling the phone in his pocket, he thought of checking in with Maddie and maybe Jessie just to run a few thoughts by them but changed his mind leaving the phone where it was and going back to his search. What could he say, what would he say? There was nothing, he knew very little. Further calls to Mike and Fi earlier had been fruitless, they were still not answering.

Swinging the flashlight from branch to branch he continued to watch as a scene unfolded telling him a story that occurred earlier. It wasn't looking good for Mike, and if he wasn't well, Fi would be close behind. He thought of returning to Miami, but wasn't sure what he would tell Maddie when she returned, or if he should tell her to stay where she was. This operation was going south, and had been since Mike woke in his bed to a room full of gas.

The sound of his phone ringing startled him.

Looking down, he did not recognize the number.

"Hello." He said hesitantly.

"Is this Sam" the voice asked.

"It depends on who is asking." Sam replied.

"My Name is Robert. I am a pilot out at Sturgeons Air. I met a friend of yours today and she asked me to give you a message."

"What friend?"

"Her name was Fiona."

"Fiona, where is she?" Sam asked. The first real clue.

"I don't know. They took her immediately after we landed."

"Landed where?" Sam asked confused.

"In Lambertville, Pennsylvania."

Sam was even more confused, he was sure that is where Fi was, why would she be flying there?

"Look, I don't want to get involved, they have already threatened my family. I just need to pass on the message, I told her I would. "

"OK."

"She said, that she thinks she can hear the river. She is above it and a firehouse is close by. Oh, yeah. It took only about 10 minutes for her to get to the airport."

"Is that it?"

"That is it."

"Can you tell me the rest, I mean how you saw her who was with her?"

The pilot sighed, "She is in trouble, those people mean what they say." He began with the phone call needing a pilot in a hurry.

Sam was nearly finished with the sweep of the area when his phone rang again. Another number he did not recognize. He was still trying to process the first call.

"Hello" he began

The voice on the other end hesitated. "Hello, is this Sam?"

"Yes." He answered, recognizing the Middle Eastern accent.

"Are you a friend of Mr. Westen's."

"You could say that!"

"He told me to call you when we were safe."

"Who are you?" Sam asked, probably already knowing the answer, but needing clarification.

"I am Amir. Mr. Westen came to my house today to warn me and my family about a man that wanted to kill us. We were able to get away..."

"Is Mike with you?" Sam interrupted, needing to know.

"No...I'm sorry. There were explosions and guns being fired. I don't know how many came for us...but we would not have gotten out with out his help."

"Where is he?" Sam asked painfully.

"He told us to go, to run. He told me to call you; that you could help us hide again."

Sam's hand shook as he took in the news. That was last words, a last stand kind of statement.

"Did you see what happened to him?"

"I am sorry...I did not. He was your friend...I don't think he got out."

Sam felt sick to his stomach and knelt in the snow.

"Are you OK?" the voice said over the phone.

It took a moment before he answered. "You said you are safe, stay where you are. I will have to call you back. I will need to make a few calls."

"OK."

"Wait!" Sam said remembering the Fi clues. "You live in Lambertville?"

"Yes."

"How close is the next town on the river, is it close to the airport?"

"Maybe 20 minutes from us, but it is in the opposite direction of the airport." he answered.

Sam thought for a moment, too far. "Does Lambertville have a firehouse?"

"Yes, on Main Street."

"Are their any empty buildings or homes close by."

Amir thought for a moment. "Um...yes, yes. There is a restaurant a few doors down that closed more than a year ago. It has a nice balcony overlooking the river, why?"

"Nothing. Thank you. I will call you back.

Sam felt defeated. Mike was gone, and so was Fi. Both a painful proposition, but he had enough to go after at least her. He couldn't just let it go. Packing up he headed back through the trees towards the bridge.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Changing Tides

Mike ran down the bank as fast as he could and threw his Navy blue wool sweater into the rushing water. "They need to follow something." he thought before running upstream as fast as he could. Even in the rough terrain of the steep hill and thinning winter brush he was making good time. Ducking beneath an out cropping of rock, he dared to look back, up the hill to where Mintor was still laying in the gravel. No one had approached him yet. They would be cautious. Mintor must have warned them of the potential dangers of chasing an ex-operative.

Michael followed under the outcropping and found what he was looking for. He had seen it hours earlier crossing the bridge. It was just an earlier glance, but when you are lying against a tree bleeding and surrounded things come to you. It was just a small section stuck out. A corrugated metal drainage pipe, built into the side of the hill. A small stream of water drained from it. Easily seen from the bridge, but nearly impossible to see from this side of the river.

Mike crawled in, it was a good fit, not too tight. Not too claustrophobic. The flow of the water soaking his shoes and the lower half of his jeans. He waited, but not long. It started slow, then it was a rush of people, searching and yelling.

"Check down stream! He is here somewhere."

"I see him! I see him! He is in the river!"

"Put your gun down. No shooting. Mintor wants him alive."

"Get men down there! Now! He has to come out of the water somewhere."

"Find him, now!"

"You three see if Mintor is alive."

"Get Mintor back to the trucks and back to base."

Michael listened as they moved down stream. As expected, they left a small team in place to handle any loose ends. Michael didn't have long. They would track his sweater down and soon find that he was not in it. It was now or never.

XXXX

Sam finished the call and placed the phone in his pocket. Once done here, he would check out an aerial view of the area on his computer. The firehouse was a big hint. How many were located close to the river in a 10 minute circumference around the local airport. Sam would give her a large kiss when and if he saw her again, but he would need back up. He needed to call Jesse.

Finishing a new sweep he was getting closer to the river. He continued to get blood smeared foliage and in one spot, it seemed to be more. It seemed to be a lot of blood, but in the snow and moisture it was hard to tell. He only hoped it wasn't Mikes.

XXXX

Heading up the river bank, Mike stayed low and as close to a small ditch as possible. They had left two men behind. They didn't seem to be on alert. They seemed more annoyed at being left behind. Their black jackets and blue jeans made them seem out of place by the tranquil river.

One was smoking a cigarette, and the other was asking him if he had any more, then a light. They seemed to be engaged in a conversation just north of the entrance to the bridge like they knew each other from a past job. Mike took full advantage of the moment when one man crossed to the other side of the bridge entrance to get a better view of the rest of their group.

Moving swiftly, Mike grabbed the closer man from behind as the other continued his conversation. Wrapping his leg around him legs and his arms on his mouth and neck, he leaned back and pulled him quietly into the brush. A squeeze on his jugular and the man went quiet.

"Hey, I think they got him!" the other man yelled watching his colleagues down stream pull something from the river, but at this distance, it was hard to see. The man turned to see Michael Westen standing in front of him. His gun pointed at his head and a finger over his mouth to tell him to be quiet.

"Throw your gun in the river."

The man hesitated.

"You don't want to try anything stupid. Your friend over there did, and look where he is." Michael smiled as the man glanced past him and could not see his friend. Then he gently tossed the gun in the river.

"Give me your jacket!" Mike said, doing everything he could to stop his teeth from chattering.

Removing his jacket, Mike removed a zip tie from the pocket and had the man tie his hands together. With another one, he attached him to the bridge.

Now if I hear yelling, I am going to come back and shoot you in the head, do you understand?

The man shook his head.

"Now, Mintor is holding one of my friends. Can you tell me where she is?"

The man hesitated again as Michael pressed the gun into his cheek.

"There won't be much left if I pull the trigger."

The hesitation faded. "I don...I don't know. We just got here, right before we found you. Our flight was delayed because... of the weather." the man gushed.

Spotting three men returning out in the woods and not far away, Michael had no choice but to believe him. He needed to run. Tired and wounded, he was in no shape for another man hunt.

He crossed the bridge as fast as he could and made his way north towards town. For now he was not being followed. As he reached Main Street, it seemed quiet as the snow fell lightly and coated everything in the blanket of white powder. Mike suddenly felt alone. Before he had a goal, somewhere to go, something to do, but now he was literally out in the cold.

Getting off the main street, he worked his way down a back alley and behind the row of stores that faced the river. One stood out in his mind. Amir's store would be empty and locked since they weren't there to open it today. It would be a good place to get some rest, clean his wound and regroup. He hoped the phone worked; right now he needed Sam.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Darkness Falls

Fi could tell that outside it had gotten dark again, even with the windows closed off and her blindfold on she was still able to tell. Just like she knew that the woman was sitting in the room with her. She could smell her perfume and she could hear small movements, Slight movements, like a page being turned.

Her arms ached from being tied in the same position again for a while and she was growing impatient with captivity. It was almost as if they didn't need her. They didn't ask questions, they didn't beat her or intimidate. They simply just held her. If she was bait to lure Michael, she would have thought that there would be phone call or something. Instead there was sitting around and waiting. She just hoped that the pilot would come through for her.

"What do you do for fun around here?" she finally said, bored with her surrounding and lack of information.

There was no response, only the pages that were being turned paused for a moment and resumed.

Then she heard it, the vibration of a phone in a pocket.

The woman answered. "Well?" with annoyance in her voice.

"Idiots, what are we paying for? What about the others?"

Fi could hear her stand and feel the tension grow.

"How could you be so stupid?" She said loudly into the phone.

"No, no. Bring him to the hotel and send two over here for tonight. Send the rest out to search and find that signal!"

Fi took the opportunity. Are things not going well in terrorist land? " Fi quipped.

Suddenly the perfume was close.

"Shut up!" the woman demanded.

"So it really isn't going well, is it? Michael can be such a pain in the ass when he wants to be!" Fi said, enjoying herself.

"Yes, he can. How does it feel to be one of his many whores? Is he still lousy in bed?"

"I think your memory might be slipping or maybe it is just because you are an old whore. Michael is fantastic! "

"I should slit your throat for even speaking."

"Untie my hands and I will give you the opportunity." Fi said pulling on her bindings.

"You would like that wouldn't you Mssss. Glenanne. It is still Ms? You know he will never marry you, Michael loves his job more than anyone person."

Fi smiled. "I'm not the marrying kind, and neither is Michael. We like it better like that it makes the sex more fun."

"So how does it feel Fiona to know one day that you will wake up, old and wrinkled and Michael will be gone?"

"I don't think about it. Michael will do, what Michael wants and what do you care? Is this revenge for a jilted lover? All this!"

"You are right. This is about revenge, but not what you think. Michael means nothing to me except the information in his stubborn brain. He has something I want and I will get it."

Fiona could feel he get close again and a cool metal blade run down her shoulder to her elbow.

"You see, I simply always get what I want. Even if it means slicing you in strips while he watches. With the right motivation he will tell me everything."

"You will never find him. He is just too good."

"I don't have to find him Ms. Glenanne. With you as my guest, Michael will find me. We just have to be patient. He is too good for his job, and …we are ready."

Mike woke on the floor of the gift shops office. He remembered pulling items from the storage room for bedding, but not much else. Exhaustion had taken on a life of itself. The room was dark except for the light shining in from the small window above the desk and it took him a moment to remember where he was and how he got there.

Listening to every noise, it seemed quiet in the shop. Pulling back an old rain coat he used for a blanket he remembered the pain in his arm. He had washed the wound when he arrived in the bathroom sink and wrapped it with a Lambertville bandana then hung his wet clothing on the office radiator and turned the heat up to a comfortable temperature. From there, sleep came easily.

His watch told him that it was nearly 6:30 and he had been asleep most of the afternoon. His stomach growled since he missed all his meals today and he went in search of gift shop food. Checking the office fridge he found half a dozen cold bottled waters and a container of food, which probably would have been some ones lunch days ago, but not now. He drank two bottles quickly squelching his growing thirst.

Rummaging through the shelves of gift glasses and boxes of drink coasters he found a bag of Pistachios, some salt water taffy and a few containers of Moose Mix. For now they would do. Dressing in his warm and dry clothing, he tried on his running shoes. Still slightly damp, but they would do for now. He sat at the office desk formulating a plan and eating his gift store delicacies.

Rested with food in his system and a plan in his head, he knew he needed Sam.

Sam was nearly on the Bridge when his phone rang. His caller ID again, did not identify the number. Shaking his head, he didn't know how much more he could take today.

"Sam."

Just the voice stopped him in his tracks. Even over the roar of the water below he could make out who it was. "Mike, buddy...It is good to hear your voice. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine Sam. I need your help. I can track where they took Fi."

"I can do better than that! I think I know where she is. Amir called, I think she is being held at an abandoned restaurant on Main Street in Lambertville."

"Where?" Mike asked looking out the large front window of the shop to the main street.

"It is a few doors down from the firehouse."

Mike glanced down to the left and then to the right.

"I found the firehouse."

It was a red brick building with two large bay doors. A flashing yellow light hung from a cable above the street. Trying to look at the buildings next to it he found what he was looking for even through the falling snow. A small building stood alone, its For Sale sign hung slightly askew. A dim light shone in the top floor behind boarded up windows.

"Good. Now look for an abandoned restaurant."

Mike whispered into the phone. "It's across the street. It all makes sense. They could watch who came and went into town from there. She is across the street."

"What do you mean it is across the street? Now wait for me Mike, I'm not far." Sam said into dead air.

Michael was already gone.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Fatal Option

Michael crossed the street through the snow and slush and headed for the side of the building. It was a small alley way with only darkness. Even the street lights didn't seem to penetrate the blackness of the area and he liked it that way. Working his way down the side to the back he examined what he could see of the existing edifice.

At the rear, the building had a small entrance that led to a large garbage bin on the side. Above the entrance, was an area built out partially over the rock sides of the river and hanging out as far as code would allow giving the patrons of the past the best view of the river and the park lands across the river.

Examining the cross braces, Michael found a way up. Climbing the older wooden beams, Michael ignored the sharp pain in his arm and the aches of his body and moved up. Finally reaching the top in just a few minutes. The roar of the rushing water below hiding all the sounds of his climbing. A small ledge with rails allowed Michael to get his legs up and over and finally the rest of his body while staying below the level of the windows.

Peeking over the ledge, he moved around until he found a small hole in the boards that covered the windows and tried to look inside. A small amount of light shone inside, the interior room deserted. Pulling at a window, it didn't budge and he moved to the next. It was already broken and a board filled the open area. Pushing hard, the board dislodged and Micheal unlatched the top of the double hung. Then he pulled at the window and felt it as it slid up. Easing it up as quietly as possible.

Seconds later he was inside as he crouched allowing his eyes to adjust to a dim light that shone in from an adjacent room. No doors, just a passage way between them. Creeping quietly he moved towards the door when he saw movement in front of him. Ducking he watched a figure pass in front of the door and down a small hallway to the other side of the overhang. Continuing to move forward he watched the figure as it met with another, this one smaller, more petite. He couldn't hear their conversation as they seemed to whisper to each other.

Michael wondered how many more he would see. He needed to know what he was up against before moving forward. If Fi was here, he would need to be careful. Mintor would be prepared, even for his arrival. He watched the two figures as they finished their quiet conversation and the smaller of the two headed his direction.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"We just got a hit on Weston's location." he whispered to the woman and entering the room.

"Where is he now?"

"He is here! I believe he is at the back of the building. The North east corner."

"Is he inside yet?" She asked calmly.

"It is hard to tell, but he is here." he answered.

"We have a plan in motion for this, have you been briefed?"

"Yes."

"Then start the procedure."

"But what about..."

"Mr. Weston is a dangerous man. Given the opportunity he will kill you and me. Start the procedure."

"Yes ma'am." he answered watching her walk away.

She returned to the room with Fi. Her head was hanging down but raised up when she heard the foot steps enter.

"It looks like it is about to get exciting around here. Care to watch?" she said pulling the blindfold from her.

Fi's eyes blinked in the light and tried focusing in on the woman that stood in front of her.

"What are you talking about?" Fi said groggily.

"It looks like Michael has come to get you, care to freshen up." Pouring a pitcher of cold water over her. "There much better, now it shouldn't be too long. He is pretty resourceful."

The woman pulled up a chair and sat in a far corner doorway nearly twenty feet or more from her. Partially shaded in the dark

"Why so far away? Do I need a shower or something?"

"Of course you do, but we have a little surprise for Michael. One that he will...enjoy. One that really gets the heart pumping."

She heard a click in the hallway and then the closed door slid open. Fi and the woman turned to look as Michael stepped in, his gun raised and pointed at her.

"Hello Michael." she said

He couldn't see her face, but seemed to recognize her voice.

"I'm taking her out of here, is that OK with you?" Michael said, looking back quickly over his shoulder and checking behind him.

"That is fine with me, but you will have to decide how?"

"I can shoot you in the head, or you can live to terrorize another day." He said with anger in his voice.

"That is not exactly what I meant." She said smugly." If I am dead, then I can't stop it from happening. You do have options."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, when you walked into this room, a motion sensor went on and recorded your weight on the floor boards, setting in motion a chain of events."

Michael looked down at his wet feet. He thought he had been careful. He had watched her walk in and gave her a moment to clear the door.

"What chain of events?"

"There are explosives rigged to the beams holding this portion of the building up. When they go, they will take this section with them down and into the river. Of course for us that means you and Ms Glenanne will be affected. She will slid into the abyss and you get to watch."

Michael looked at Fiona. "Fi" He said not knowing what else to say and looking for other options. She was cable tied to a wooden chair and it was bolted to the floor.

"Shoot her Michael!" Fi blurted out. "She will kill me no matter what you do."

"Wait Fi!" Michael said. " You said I had options?"

"You do, I can give you the knife I am holding and you can cut her free. Hopefully there will be enough time.., but time is limited."

"What do you want?" Michael said, frustrated that he had put himself and Fi in this predicament.

"I want the location of that family that you helped escape earlier and I am done playing games. I want to know where my father is."

Michael looked hard through the dimness of the light."Your father?"

The woman stood as a small explosion erupted below Michael and the floor began to tilt beneath Fi.

"That would be the first brace, there are two more." Her face moved into the light. I am surprised you don't recognize me. We were so close at one time."

The light suddenly lit her face. It was older, her hair was different, shorter but he recognized her.

"Lena?" he asked.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: River Ride Please review

"You are alive!" You died..I don't understand." Michael barely got out the words. This woman's death had effected every part of his life. Decisions he had made, people he had loved. Everything had moved forward in his life from that moment; in a different direction. He had built walls and road blocks with her in his mental background.

"I would love to reminisce, but we have a looming deadline."

Anger filled him as he squeezed off a bullet narrowly missing her head. He watched it land in the wood behind her.

"Like I said, I think I will just shoot you. I won't miss on purpose the next time. Let her go! She has nothing to do with this."

"You never did get it Michael. She is everything. Tell me what I want! I can stop this from happening."

Fi looked at Michael, for the first time sweat had appeared on his brow. "Michael listen to me. Kill her. Take her knife and set me free."

Confusion filled his face. Something Fi had not seen him do before.

"Do you think I would be sitting here if there was another way. That plate you stepped on also turned on sections of light beams that cross in front of you. If you pass through with out the detonator turned off, the room doesn't simply slid onto the rocks below and then into the river, it explodes. It is a grand plan!"

"Why Lena. Why do this? This isn't you." Michael said afraid to move.

"Aw Michael, did you think we were in love? How sweet! Did you think I was that naïve? That all those years ago I wouldn't find out who you were just because I was a young girl in a country that took me for granted. Didn't you wonder why my parents were so happy about you? How they pushed us together? You were suppose to use me to get to my parents, but they used you too. They tried to break up my relationship with a man they did not understand or approve of. A man I loved. You were their answer."

"But you died."

"I could have, and you too. My father paid well for that. Kill two birds with one stone. Except he paid the wrong man."

"Mintor." Michael whispered.

"Very good Michael. My father suspected Mintor, but he disappeared. Even back then he was working. A busy man. Then you arrived you were the perfect man for their wayward daughter until my father found out who you really were. Then he sent me away. Had me beat. Even Mintor couldn't find me.

No, No I needed you for that. You convinced my father to tell you where I was but he didn't want his daughter back. It wasn't out of loyalty to you; he wanted revenge. You for ruining his life, me for the shame he thinks I caused my family. He hired a professional through a friend; but he did not meet with him. It was all done by telephone.

Mintor took the job not knowing who he was killing. Some American spy and a girl in a far off city. Lucky for us at the last minute he saw my face in the car and he was able to stop one of the remote detonators from going off. I was injured, it took a few days, but he had me flown to France, to a private hospital. You see, we could never be together if people thought that we were alive. So I died in a Red Cross tent long before you ever woke up."

"And he died just after that."

"Yes, now you get it. Now you are going to give up your life and hers for him, my father. He tried to kill you. Doesn't that..."

The room shook violently as the second brace gave way to a tiny explosion and the room tilted even more. Michael held on to the wall as Fi was tossed around her chair. Fear in her eyes.

'I told you we didn't have time for a trip down memory lane. Now give me the information."

Michael breathed hard. "I don't know where they are. I told them to run and not look back."

Lena shook her head. "Do you think I believe that? I can't believe you would watch her die."

"I told you I don't know. Stop this, you don't want to do this. She hasn't done anything to you."

Lena stood. "No, but you have." She pressed the button in her hand and the third brace exploded beneath the floor.

It seemed to go in slow motion for Michael, he watched every movement. The floor boards already stressed from the lack of support from the missing braces; cracked and broke from the main building and with it, the roof and the walls. Debris, dust and wooden splinters falling from every corner. Electric sparks from wires and outlets screaming as they are being torn apart; and in the center, her face looking at his. Still tied to the chair that was bolted to floorboards on their way down. She said nothing, but her eyes told him everything.

He turned to Lena as she was leaving, running from what she knew would happen. He quickly fired off two rounds and didn't wait to see if they hit the target. Instead, he took two steps forward and dove towards Fi into the downwards spiral only to feel a greater explosion from below pushing him out as well as the decrepit building. His back slammed into what was the ceiling as the force nearly knocked him out. He fought hard to keep his eyes on Fi as the building soared out then down, missing the rocks below and into the rushing water.

Michael was tossed around like a rag doll as dark water quickly mixed with shredded wood in a flurry of the rivers current. Pulled under from a large piece of the roof, Michael fought his way to the top and broke free gasping for breath as the water gave way.

Instantly he looked for her, diving beneath and seeing nothing. Fighting through the mangled boards and diving again and again. The rage of the river pulling him down stream in a desperate attempt to find her.

He would call her name, having it fall on deaf ears. Panic filled him and then...he saw it. The legs of the chair, broken and free of the floor boards floating along. Diving again he went under. She was still attached. Limp, but there. Grabbing her he pulled her head to the surface. He didn't need to feel for a pulse to know she wasn't breathing.

With the energy he had left he fought the strength of the river and swam to the side rocks. Grabbing and missing several times, scraping his fingers along the smooth surfaces until his hand connected with a branch; something he could hold on to. Pulling hard he pushed her up and then himself. The chair partially with her. She lay sideways on the rock as he rolled her over and breathed into her mouth.

"Come on Fi, not like this. Please not like this."

His hands found her chest and he compressed blood into her heart before repeating the breaths. Over and over.

"Don't give up on me Fi!" he yelled into the night. Pressing harder, breathing faster. "Come on!"

First it was a dribble, then a gasp of water that was released from her mouth. It caught him by surprise and he rolled her to her side. She gasped again and coughed. Water coming out in great mouthfuls.

"Fi, Fi can you hear me?" he begged.

She continued to gasp and cough and then a raspy breath, "Michael."

He smiled, and held her. "Fi, your OK!" he said with relief in his voice as the adrenaline drained from him.

"I'm cold." She said beginning to shake.

"OK, OK. " looking around as the remains of the building washed away. "I will get you warm."


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31:

"It is so cold Michael." Fi barely whispered as Mike carried her in his arms. The last day had taken its toll on her and Michael, but the swim in the river was almost more than she could take. Her breathing had returned, but she was barely able to sit up; never mind standing or walking.

Night had come and the temperature had plummeted with the sun. The gray dark sky above continued to pour snow from the heavy clouds and it was starting to accumulate. Mike had managed to get her up the rocky side of the river, but the river had carried them so far downstream that the small town was just a glow on the horizon.

Michael wasn't sure how long he walked. His arm stiff and sore. He was sure it was bleeding again. Though in the darkness of the woods it was hard to tell. His muscles screaming for relief, but he carried her. He knew she couldn't walk and leaving her meant certain death. He was nearly on top of it when he saw it. A porch, small and dark. Hopefully he could find a phone. Or at least a warm place for them to rest for a little while.

Climbing the stairs he knocked on the door and when no one answered he banged loudly. Still, no answer. His patience had grown slim and with a well-placed kick, the door opened. Inside was small and sparsely decorated. A couch covered in a white sheet sat in front of a large stone fireplace. Behind it a small kitchen and a few closed doors off to the side. It was apparent that it was either abandoned, or used for the summer tourist season. Michael liked the options.

Placing Fi on the couch, he opened one of the doors. As expected one was a small bedroom with a folded blanket on top of a small closet. The bed had been stripped and also covered by a large white sheet. Grabbing the blanket he returned to Fi and helped her out of soaked clothing. She shook beneath the blankets as her eyes closed and she sank into the couch barely aware of where she was. Placing a few logs with some kindling in the hearth, he knelt in front and attempted to light a match from a box next to the woodpile. His fingers shaking as he shivered in front of the cold fire place. He found it difficult as he attempted the small maneuver, he knew he was cold but not this cold. He needed to get warm.

Finally after several attempts the match lit and he placed it in the kindling. The dry wood lit quickly and the warmth was intoxicating. Returning to the bedroom, he searched for another blanket; finding none, he searched for dry clothes. The closets were empty. Fi would have to share.

Checking lights and the refrigerator, he found that the electricity was off and the phone hanging on the kitchen wall was dead. From the bedroom he dragged the mattress from the bed when the heating system refused to turn on and dropped it in front of the fire. They would have to sleep near the hearth. He moved Fi to the makeshift bed and closer to the fire. Then he placed her clothing on a wooden bench to dry before stripping his own off and sliding in next to Fi. He could feel her body, she was already warm and it didn't take long before his own shivering stopped. Exhaustion finally took him and together they slept peacefully.

Fi woke to the early morning light of a large picture window with swaying trees lined with white snow. The gray skies above seemed pale and the few flurries that fell seemed to be blowing from the trees. It seemed so cold out there compared to the warmth she felt where she lay. But where was she? She couldn't remember, couldn't recall. There was a confusing memory of swimming and being cold, before that there was captivity, but it seemed to roll around her head not making sense. Behind her she felt a movement and turned to see a man, his face buried in the mattress and most of him covered with the same blanket as her.

She smiled to think she might still be dreaming but she knew better. Even without seeing his face she knew it was Michael next to her, the cut of his hair, the shape of his neck the curve of his shoulders. She knew him.

"Michael." She choked out.

He turned quickly, concerned with her. "Are you OK?" He said pulling the blankets up around her neck. "Try to stay warm."

"I'm fine Michael, but you are not." Looking at the dried blood on his arm. "That looks nasty."

"I'm fine. How do you feel?"

"OK I guess. I'm not sure really."

He smiled the Michael smile at her.

"I don't remember getting here." And looking down. "And my clothes? Did we...?"

"No Fi . . . You were wet from the river, do you remember?"

"Was that real? I thought I dreamed that."

"No, it was real. Too real."

"And Lena, the explosion?"

"Yes, that too."

"You jumped in after me that . . . that . . . " Her eyes filled with tears

'You're welcome Fi." He said smiling at her again.

Fi smiled back and leaned in and kissed him on the lips. He kissed her back and she kissed him more, moving to his neck and chest before he stopped her.

'Are you OK?" He asked.

"I'm better than I have been in a long time Michael."

Michael smiled. "Me too!"

On that cold snowy morning in that small summer cottage Michael and Fi made love and drifted back to sleep entwined in each other s arms. The world had changed for both of them.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Sam's Find

Sam had made it across the bridge, to the car and he was nearly half way to town when he saw the sky light up from an explosion in town. He immediately knew it was Mike. He arrived just a few minutes after the fire department since they were so close and saw the damage for himself.

Silently he prayed to himself that Mike and Fiona were not in that disaster.

The back half of the building was gone. Some of it lay on the side of the tall river bank, but most was scattered in the river and along the edges. A fire raged in the main building and firefighters fought their second strange fire in a small town in less than twenty-four hours. Sam knew there would soon be questions and more than a local fire department to answer them.

Looking around while trying not to be noticed he asked a few questions. The most obvious: Was anyone inside? Did anyone get hurt? How did it happen? At this point they knew nothing too very little. Sam probably knew more, and that wasn't much.

He watched the crowd as it was being pushed back to the other side of the street. He was well aware that many bombers and murders liked to watch the crime scene unfold and sometimes even offer assistance, though he doubted Mintor would be that stupid. Usually that was the mark of an amateur. It was still good field work to double check.

Mintor was highly trained and professional with expert skills. Sam didn't believe that he could make that mistake. Though occasionally they hired people with different skill sets than their own and Sam waited and watched until he saw what he was missing. Off to the side, just out of the street lights stood a man. He seemed odd for this town and seemed to be alone. It didn't look like anyone else was watching him and Sam kept his eyes on him.

Nearly an hour later, the fire was out and the cleanup began as well as the shifting through the debris for any unfortunates. Sam had tried the phone Mike had called him on several times and his and Fi's cell without reward. They weren't answering and a slow swill of panic was forming in the pit of his stomach. He would feel much better with a call but he knew that if they were in trouble or injured they might be running silent.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the man he had been watching slowly moving away while talking on his phone. Sam watched, staying where he was then as the man rounded a corner as Sam sped up to catch him. From the corner he watched as the man walked quickly to the far end of the cross street and headed for a Black Tahoe.

Sam smiled; it must be them? He had found Mintor or at least one of his cronies. It was a start, a lead Racing back to his car he started the engine and worked his way around the back of the building until he pulled out onto the street where the black Tahoe had been. The man was just finishing a three-point turn and heading in a different direction from the fire drove the speed limit through town. Sam followed with plenty of room through the dark streets allowing other cars to move ahead of him. The darkness helped him hide: though the driver seemed oblivious to any tail.

After 15 minutes the truck pulled into the parking lot of a local Hotel. Five stories high it did not have the charm that his Inn had, but it was a nice hotel. Sam drove past and turned at the next street. Mintor's men were here. He had a strong sense that he was right. He hoped Mike wasn't here. It was doubtful since this was a public place. It they had him, they would have taken him to a secluded place, though Sam hoped that wasn't the case.

Everything had moved quickly from the time of Mikes call until now. He didn't want to think of the alternatives. He could be in the building or maybe in the debris floating down the river, maybe another location with more of Mintor's men. It was all just guess work at the moment and none were pleasant.

He needed to explore some of them. He needed to do something. He looked at his phone frustrated. "Where are you guys? Come on!"

"Mike's tracker" he says aloud to himself. "Did you turn it on Mikey, is that why you called me?"

Pulling the laptop bag from the seat next to him he turned it on and checked the satellite feed. The storm was messing with his signal, but it came through. Putting in the appropriate numbers, he waited. At first a faint bleep, then a stronger one. Sam configured the state and location and a map appeared on the screen. Looking down at the small bleep he realized where it was. Mike was in front of him. He was in the hotel.

"That a boy Mike." Sam said closing the lid of the computer and removing his gun. "Time to come home."


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33- Alarming View

Sam got out of the car in the darkness and headed for the hotel. The main doors opened on arrival as he entered into the well-decorated lobby. Music played lightly over a speaker and the reception area with its dimmed lights was empty at this hour. He was in time to watch the lights of the elevator stop on the fourth floor.

Returning to the reception he wandered around for a while and waited. No one appeared which meant getting someone meant ringing the shinny bell on the counter. Sliding around to the back of the chest high counter, he moved toward the screen of the computer as the hotel's picture appeared back at him. Pressing the enter key the computer churned to life and a new screen appeared.

'Welcome Andrea' Flashed on the screen

Hitting enter again he could see different categories appear. Reservation, clients, meeting rooms, staff, and what he was looking for, available rooms.

Available rooms appeared in a grid. Sam picked the fourth floor and individual rooms appeared. Several rooms were taken on that floor. Most of them single rooms except one group of three.

"Got ya!" Sam said smiling. "Like candy from a baby." As he grabbed the manager's key card from the drawer below the computer.

Riding the elevator to the fourth floor Sam walked to an empty room and entered. On the desk inside the room he found a magazine.

Perfect he said, just what I need. Pulling the lamp from the wall he removed the wire from the base of the lamp and peeled off the plastic coating leaving two frayed wires. Plugging the plug back in, he crossed the wires close to the magazine for a spark. After several attempts the magazine lit. When a large flame had nearly engulfed the magazine, he removed the metal waste basket, placed the burning magazine inside and locked it in the small bathroom.

Removing his coat, sweater, trousers shoes and socks and placed them in the closet and slid into one of the white terry cloth robes provided. Messing up his hair, he waited, but not for long. The smoke from the magazine filled the small room and reached the fire detector and a loud blaring siren could be heard throughout the building. Moments later the fire sprinklers were set in motion as large screams could be heard around the building. Sam waited . . . and when enough time passed he entered into the hall. Two stragglers remained and heading for the stairwell. Pulling the key from his pocket he searched the room numbers 419 . . . 420 . . . until 421. One of the clusters rooms.

Sliding the key card in he entered. Water was soaking everything. He checked the bathroom, no Mike or Fi. Passing through to an adjacent door he checked the second room. The same, not Mike. The third room was across the hall and as he began to push the card in the handle opened and the door opened.

"What are you doing?" said the man from the parking lot looking at him.

Sam wiped the dripping water from his eyes. "Sorry, I thought this was my room." Pointing left and nervously laughing. "It must be the next one."

The man watched him as he moved to the next room, he was thankful for the managers full access key as he slid it in and got a green light.

"Hey, you. I know you!" Said the man coming at him quickly. Sam grabbed the gun from the large robe pocket and swung it at his head when he got close. Pointing the barrel into his forehead.

"You do now brother. Get in there." Pointing to the open door. "We need to have a conversation."

With his hands and mouth tied with ripped sheets. Sam had secured him to the legs of the bed while on the floor. His legs spread out in a V as well as his arms while he face was pulled tight against the side of the mattress.

"Know I know that this is very uncomfortable unless you are a gymnast, but it is effective, especially if I push on your shoulders a little." Sam applied a little pressure and the man tried to scream. His limbs already stretched to the brink.

"Now I can find out just how limber you are, or you can tell me what I need to know without me asking twice. What do you think?"

The man shot Sam an evil face.

Sam pressed his knee into the man's back and increasing the pressure points. Beneath the gag there was another muffled screech.

"Since the fire department is still busy putting out that fire along the river, I think it will be a little while before they get here and search all the floors, what do you think?"

The mans eyes got wide.

"Now I just want to know where my friends are? Remember I am only going to ask nicely once."

The man tried to talk through the gag.

Sam pulled it down and pointed the gun at his forehead.

"If I tell you, you won't kill me?"

Sam smiled. "It depends on what you tell me."

"Look. I'm just the hired help. I just do what I'm told OK?"

"OK, but you need to answer my question."

"Your . . . your friends."

"Spit it out!" Sam said as his patience began to wear thin.

"They are dead! I watched the building. They were in the explosion. They are in the debris in the bottom of the river."

Sam could feel himself boil over as his arm and hand shook as he pressed the gun even tighter into the man's head while he fought his own conscience from firing the weapon. "You're lying!"

The man below the weapon had several tears fall from his eyes.

"It's the truth. She blew them up. She knew she would. She told me to get out."

"She?" Sam said, surprised. "Fi? Do you mean Fiona?"

"No, she went in the drink with Weston. I'm talking about Mintor's arrogant woman, Lena,"

"Lena.." Sam sat down on the bed. His energy sapped. This addition to the story made him dizzy.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Dream maker

Michael woke with Fi lying next to him. Her warm body pressed up against his and his arm around her waist. She felt good next to him and comfortable. He wanted to stay there; warm in each other arms and just forget about the mess he had created. Yes, he blamed himself. He was trying not to feel sorry for himself, but it was hard.

He lay listening to her breathing and wondered how much he should tell her, how much she would want to know. The last two weeks had been a little tense and he knew it even though she said nothing was wrong and she didn't need to know the details. She said she would wait until he was ready. That is all she really could do because she knew Michael, she knew just how stubborn and private he could be.

His mind went through the events. He hadn't done that before he hadn't reviewed. He had been thrown back into work, gladly, upon his return and then Mintor arrived. He hadn't taken the time, he didn't really want too, especially in the middle of a new mess, but he needed Sam and he was afraid he needed Jesse too. Mintor was proving difficult and always one step ahead of him.

He thought that maybe they were right.

He could still feel the cold as he stepped from the limo and put the overcoat on. Snow on the ground crunched beneath his leather loafers and then there he was. The director, his old boss, the man that made the decisions in his life and had for most of his adult life. He was whisked upstairs to a familiar office with a mahogany desk and a great view of Washington, D.C. At night the Capitol building glowed against the dark sky. His heart pounded in his chest. Could it be real, could he be back?

"Won't you sit down Michael?" the director said pointing with his hand to one of the fine leather chairs in front of the massive desk.

Michael sat, still not sure what to say.

"I know you are tired, probably a little hungry so I will get to the point. We got your message loud and clear, and from what I heard, just in the nick of time."

"My message?" Michael croaked looking at the pitcher of water on the desk.

"Help yourself Michael." Pushing the pitcher toward him. "You are not an outcast anymore. I know this is a lot to take in. Believe it or not I have been keeping up with you. You were one of my favorites, always have been. It was hard to swallow that you betrayed us by doing all this." Pulling a large gray file from a drawer.

Michael sipped on the water as it cooled his dry and parched throat.

"But you did believe it!" Michael said to him.

"Yes, the information was overwhelming. You were unstable dynamite at the time and putting you in Miami was the best thing I could have done."

"You put me in Miami?"

"Yes Michael. It was I. I knew it was home for you. Your mother is there, a brother and a good fit while your case was being . . . reviewed."

"Thanks! You have been reviewing my case for four years?"

"There was a lot of it. Then there were these files from Florida that didn't match the things your file said. I had tons of reports, police, FBI, FDA but your name kept coming up always on the good side. You seemed to be making a difference, if that is possible in a major city."

"So what has changed?"

"This little report you sent us, opened our eyes. Your message. You were always good at that! It made what we thought, real. It gave us the proof to move forward and clear your name. A team has been reviewing the data for the last week."

"You mean the week I was being questioned?"

"I'm not going to apologize for that. You have been an operative for a long time. You know we needed to be sure."

"Are you sure?"

"For the most part. There are a few things that need looked at."

"Such as"

"Mostly the basics. You're health, your mental well being. Burning can cause a lot of rifts. It has been hard to get people back on track."

"I've never left the track. You have."

The director sat back in his chair. "You are right Michael. We are trying to correct a wrong. We will. For now, you need a little break. Some R and R. I have set you up in a nice hotel. The boys down stairs will take you over there. Get yourself some sleep. There are some fine stores in the lobby get yourself some . . . clothing and anything else you require. Charge it all to your room. I will see you early Monday morning."

"Can I call my mother?"

The director smiled at him. "Briefly! And please no calls to Ms. Glenanne. A lot of people have a lot of questions about that. For now, just keep it to your mother, OK? Especially since I have a senator that wants to rip out your heart."

Michael smiled and followed the two men in suits at the back of the room to waiting limo. In a few minutes it arrived at the Mandarin Oriental. A five star hotel with amazing Washington views. Michael walked in and was escorted past the reception area of the large rotund lobby by his two newest friends. Past the bar to the elevators.

Michael turned to the men and tried his luck.

"I would like to go to the bar and have a drink." He stated loud and clear.

Both men looked at him. Nothing on their face changed.

Stepping away from the elevators they let him pass before following him to the bar.

The bar was higher than the table area that surrounded it. It's round ceiling and design matched the lobby and from the late hour, it was not that busy. A few couples sitting around, a few single men sipping dark liquor in short glasses and one group of Asian business men in fine suits rounded out the clientele.

Michael sat at a table close to the large picture window with a view of the Jefferson Monument and watched as his buddies joined him. He leaned back in the seat, ordered a whisky neat and sipped it as he took in the view. His team didn't say a word. They simply watched as a free man had his first free drink.

"Michael, Michael are you OK?" He could feel the hands on his back. He had drifted back to sleep, catching up on some well needed sleep.

"I'm fine Fi. Why?"

"You are all sweaty." She said smiling at him.

"Are you OK?"

"I am." She said back.

He sat, then touched her hair, moving it softly from her face. "Are you really fine? I'm sorry this is all my . . . "

Fi reached out her finger and placed it on his mouth. "It is not necessary Michael, I'm sorry too and we are in this together." She placed her hand around his back and felt for the redness and lump she had seen moments earlier. "This needs to come out." Pressing her fingers over the area.

He could feel the pressure. "What is that?" He said trying to look with poor results.

"I'm not an expert, but I think that is how they found us. I think it is a bio tracker, implanted under your skin."

"What?"

"I have read about them, they are new. High tech and very sophisticated. Very much Mintor wouldn't you say?"

"Yes I would. Do you want to get the knife or should I?"


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Changing tides

Sam sat on the bed, the picture in his hands shaking slightly. It was taken the night Mike returned from Washington. Fi had taken Mike to the movies since he was not in a chatty mood and Fi just wanted to spend time with him. Madeline had invited herself and Fi talked Sam into going to round out the foursome. Sam agreed on one condition. He was doing a little side job and it was getting increasingly difficult to handle on his own. He needed a little help. Fi and Mike would be able to supply that for him.

While they waited in the lobby for the show Fi saw what she thought would be fun, a photo booth. Inside she crammed in with Mike and then the rest were pulled in. Sam and Mike thought it silly and unnecessary at the time, but they were voted down by Fi and Madeline. He had almost forgotten about the picture that he had shoved in his wallet at Madeline's insistence. Now he stared at the smiling and happy images. Neatly he folded it and returned it to his wallet. It was a bad day.

Sam had returned to the river and the explosion at the crack of dawn. It was even colder than it had been last night, but that didn't seem to bother him. In the morning light he could see the debris along the base of the river and the strength of the current below. The winter storms had given it plenty of energy as it rushed past. There wasn't much left of the building, what did remain was on the verge of collapsing and Sam thought that when the police investigation was over, they would just destroy the remaining portion for safety and aesthetics.

Several cars still littered the site, investigative trucks, an ambulance, Police, Fire and . . . FBI. "Of course!"Sam thought. Not surprised they had joined the rest. Too much in a small town not to get noticed.

Sam caught one of the local cops eating his breakfast and sipping his coffee.

"What happened?" Sam said with a loud voice.

The man swallowed the bite he had in his mouth and spoke. "They don't know yet, maybe gas from the cold, maybe kids."

"Anybody hurt?"

"Maybe!"

"Maybe, what does that mean? Sam inquired.

"Some kid in town didn't come home last night. His mom called it in this morning at four, so they are now dragging the river just in case."

"How old?" Sam asked.

"Fourteen."

"I hope you find him before those boats do." Sam said as he stared at the police boats tied up along the bank of the river.

"Me too."

Sam had gotten little again. He could wait it out over breakfast and see if they made any head way, though with the strength of the current if Mike and Fi were down there, they wouldn't find them for days. He closed his eyes to block the picture from his mind.

Just down the street he found a small diner that served good coffee and food he couldn't attempt to eat. After a few hours and several cups of coffee with the local gossip center stage, he continued to find no information. Picking up his phone he dialed the number for Jesse. No answer, just a message machine. It was too early to call Madeline.

He grabbed the suitcase by the handle and looked back at the room. He had all his belongings. The room was empty and he needed to go. This mission had gone terribly wrong. He had others go bad in the past, but none that made him feel this sad. He had to go home and protect what he had left.

The elevator came to a stop on the lobby and Sam pulled the luggage out into the wood paneling of the old inn. He had time for a drink, but even that wouldn't help. He returned his key to the smiling girl at the counter and turned to go when an image caught the corner of his eye. It had been quick and heading for the elevators.

Leaving the luggage where he stood, he walked quickly toward the elevators and the darker hallway and retrieved the gun from inside of his jacket. Rounding the corner to the elevator lobby and pointing his gun, he came face to face with a revolver.

"Sam!" The familiar voice said as the weapon in front of him lowered.

"Mike!" Sam breathed out.

"Am I glad to see you. I need you to give me a hand. I have to go pick up Fi and we have to hurry. We can talk in the car." Mike spoke rapidly looking around.

Sam lowered his gun and took a step towards the man he had buried in his mind and grabbed him tightly in a large bear hug. It lasted for several seconds.

Mike was caught off guard. "It's good to see you too, but it is not safe here."

"You know I retired so I could enjoy my waning years Mike. You're making that difficult."

Mike smiled, "Yeah, yeah I know. But this is more fun! Can you let go now?"

Sam let go, not realizing that he was still hugging. "And Fi, she is OK?"

"She is fine Sam. Just fine. Maybe just a little cold."

Sam followed Mike to Fi's room and grabbed some of her warm clothing and boots before going to his room and getting some of his.

"You are going to explain all of this. I thought for hours that you and Fi went into that river when that building exploded and you drowned."

"Well . . . that is almost right. At least most of it."

"What?" Sam said shocked.

"Come on, we have to go." Mike said pushing Sam toward the door.

"I think I am going to find a nice quite place to retire away from you and Fi. You two are going to put me in an early grave.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36: The Plot

Mike had managed to get the power back on in the house and light the water heater pilot once the sun had been up for a while. It was a simple blown fuse, easy to fix when you aren't in the dark. He showered and dressed before he left, but not before he found some bubble bath at the back of the bathroom cabinet and ran a hot bath for Fi.

She slid in and wiggled her toes as she went letting the water soak her all over and the bubbles come up to her neck in the claw foot tub. Her last bath had been less than relaxing. This one she would enjoy.

The bubbles smelled of freesia and made her think of home. Home with Michael and a good conversation, one they had not had in a while. She knew more had happened in Washington and she knew he was being very quiet about it, even for Michael. Her mind wandered through this morning and the things he said. He was ready to open up and she knew it, because she knew him.

When the water became cold, she wrapped herself in a large towel and one for her hair then added a few logs to the fire before sitting in front of it. She felt good for the first time in a few days and though she knew it might be cold and snowing outside, she wanted to spend a week here, just with Michael.

The door to the cottage opened a few minutes later. It was Michael and he had both arms full of packages and clothing. Then there was Sam

"Sam!" Fi said excitedly and ran to him. He returned the enthusiasm and gave her a big hug.

"It's good to see that you are OK Fi. I was worried about you."

Fi smiled her impish smile and looked at Sam. "Why so worried? Don't you know I have my own knight in shining armor?" As she ran her hand through Michael's hair.

Michael smiled at her and handed her a bag with all her clothes. "This should get you warm?"

"I can think of other ways." She said back with a smirk.

Sam looked at both of them. "Do I need to go back to the hotel?"

Michael smiled again. "No, Fi is going to get dressed, I am going to cook breakfast and we are going to devise a way to kill Mentor and his little flock."

"Mike, did you say kill?" Sam asked. Stunned at his bluntness.

"Yes, I said Kill. I have had enough. I am not going to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life and neither are my friends nor my family. You are either in or out. I won't judge you either way. This is my war and this is the last battle."

Fi and Sam looked at each other, they had never plotted to kill anyone with Michael before and this was a new theory for them. They had caught bad people before, set them up and sent them to the police, but never had they intentionally killed as a team except for Carla, and that was only because they had to. Mike's life was in danger.

Fi said it first. "I'm in." There was no hesitation in her voice.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked Michael.

"I am."

"Well, OK I am in."

"Sam I don't want you to do this because you think you owe me or Fi something. This is not something I take lightly. Killing a man takes all he is and all he will ever be. You have to be sure." Mike asked.

"I am sure. Let's eat. I'm starving."

The three finished a breakfast of omelets, coffee and fresh bagels while Mike talked through his idea. Mintor's phone bug would let them track his exact location and the bio tracker would lure him to where they needed him to be. They would choose an abandoned building on the edge of town and lure him in. Once there, Fi would set off an explosion killing the head of the team. Mike hoped that with their team leader dead, the rest would disband and go their separate ways.

"What about Lena?" Fi asked.

"What about whom? Sam asked as Fi gave him an update.

"We might need to kill her too!" Mike added.

"Might?" Fi added. "She was a willing participant, and it looks like she has been that way for a long time."

Mike looked down at the remaining food on plate. This thought bothered him deep down inside, He knew she had used him, but she was alive. Something was there, long ago, he was sure of it. She had changed, but even he wasn't that good at faking his emotions, and he was one of the best in the business. She was just a kid when he met her, barely out of her teens.

"Mike are you still with us?" Sam asked.

Fi nudged him.

"Yeah, let's go scout a location." He finally answered.

"


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37:

They found what they were looking for in a house not far from the cottage. From the outside it looked like it had been empty for a while. Some of the windows had been boarded up and the roof seemed to be tilted slightly under the weight of the snow that lay on top of it.

Fi and Michael visited four different stores for the necessary bomb items and new phones for both of them. From each store, Fi bought only one or two key ingredients needed and Michael added a little something of his own. They visited three hardware stores, even going as far as 40 miles away not to be noticed.

Sam prepped the small interior of the house. There would be no escape once inside. Windows were nailed shut and the boards over them reinforced. Since there wasn't any furniture, it had to look like Mike had been staying there, at least for a short while. Sam removed a few things from the Fi and Mike's hide away and brought them in. He also made several trails back and forth from the house through the snow. Looking at his handy work, he hoped it would be enough to get them inside.

Returning to the house, Fi got to work and Mike helped while Sam put the finishing touches on home-sweet-home. Fi mixed the ingredients adding just the right amount of each of the compounds and placed them in plastic buckets with remote controls that Michael hooked up to one of their new cell phones. The plastic buckets went into card board moving boxes and were placed in areas around the small home. Fi believed that there would be nothing left if it all went off, just debris.

It would be dark in two hours and their plan would go into motion soon. Mike, Sam and Fi returned to the cottage and ate a small meal next to a roaring fire before Sam fell asleep and then Fi. Mike's mind was wound tight and all he could do was run through the scenarios in his mind and then he drifted back to Washington.

It was easy at first, visits with psychologists. The usual mumbo jumbo to make sure his head was still on straight. Seven visits while he relaxed in his room and starting to hate the pristine views of downtown Washington, D.C. Once psych was finished, it was the doctor's turn. Checking his heart, his lungs, drawing enough blood, he thought, to kill him. Stress tests, physical therapy for his arm and shoulder went on for weeks, then he could feel the change.

Fatigues were brought to him and the exam room changed to training rooms. Weapons were brought to him, and he was made to take them apart, put them back together as a man watched with a stopwatch.

"Repeat"

Michael did.

"Repeat" for hours on hours until Michael's hands hurt and his mind lost in the thought of what he was doing. No one talked to him, only told him what to do.

Then it was hand to hand training. Brutal fights with several different opponents, several different fighting styles and weapons. He returned to the hotel room each night trying to strike up a conversation with his two escorts and failing, before collapsing into bed. He was losing track of time, seven weeks, maybe eight. Each day blended with the other. He had done this before and survived, he could do it again.

Then one morning a suit arrived along with shoes and an overcoat. Fine materials and craftsmanship. He showered and dressed, eager to see where this day would take him. The limo driving him today returned to the directors building and his two escorts again remained in the car.

"You are not going to walk me up. What kind of date is that?" Mike said sarcastically trying to get something out of the two men.

"I'm sure you remember the office?" one said sarcastically back.

Mike stepped from the limo, the snow had melted, but the air was still stinging with cold. He stepped into the elevator and watched the elevator doors close as he heard a voice yell.

"Hold the elevators."

Mike slid his hand into the field and the doors slid open again as a tall man, neatly dressed stepped in. Michael recognized him immediately.

"Jesse, what are you doing here?"

"Mike. It's good to see you! I've got a meeting up stairs. You?"

"Me too! A meeting? How is your leg?" Michael inquired as the doors shut and confused.

"Good, really good. I don't know what you did Mike, but it looks likes you got me back in. Whatever you said cleared my name. They picked me up in Miami at the hospital, helicoptered me to Bethesda Naval Hospital and have been taking really good care of me. The break is better, the wound has healed and Physical Therapy said in a week or two I should be able to get back in shape."

"That's great Jesse. You deserve it. You didn't do anything wrong. That was always my fault."

"Mike, man. I wouldn't trade anything that has happened in the last few months, well maybe the re-bar in the leg. It has been . . . really great meeting you, Fi, Sam and of course your mom."

"Thanks, me too."

The doors to the elevator opened and the two men shook hands and went different directions down a corridor

"Michael, Michael It is time to wake up." It was Fi's voice "It is time to get our little plan on the road. "Are you OK?"She said looking at him strangely.

Mike woke on the couch next to her, his mind returned from Washington. He leaned in and kissed her hard on the lips. "I'm fine, let's go get them."


	38. Chapter 38

Sorry this took so long to get out. I am swamped at work. Enjoy

Chapter 38: Finders Keepers Please Review

Mintor packed his laptop into his case and placed it on top of his suitcase before walking to Lena at the desk and leaning in to kiss her neck. She smelled of jasmine and he moved her long hair to the side so he could see more of the area. She leaned back away from the desk before rising from her seat. She too had been typing on her computer.

"No news, my love. They don't think they will finish dragging the river for several more days." He whispered into her ear.

"Have there been any hits to his bio-tracker?"

"None, I have two team out now driving through this town and the next, looking for a signal. He may be dead."

"Damn it! We should have done it while we had him, instead of rushing at the hotel, then we could have put a larger transmitter in without it being noticed. It would have doubled the range of the transmitter. This guess work is time consuming."

"You were right! I thought the drugs would be more powerful than they were. I thought we would get what we needed from a junkie. He seems to have quite a resistance to them and quite a knack for staying alive. I think we should continue with the plan. I should go to Miami and get his mother. A bomb under her seems to be a good way to get him to surface. He will head there if he is not dead."

"What about my family? I want them dead for what they have done to me."

"I promised you that I would deal with them. In seven years, only Weston has given us anything close to a correct answer. We are much closer than we have ever been. It will happen. I promise you. I will take care of it just as I have taken care of you in the past. I will go to Miami, you can wait here and we can both watch while they die."

Michael drove in his borrowed vehicle past the hotel where Mintor was last spotted by Sam. On the seat next to him in a small cardboard box was the bio-tracker from his neck that was now attached to a low-level power source and it hummed away. It was remarkably intricate and he had only read about them and not actually seen one.

Four years out of the game and time had put him back a step or two. Something Washington agreed with as they kept him busy just weeks before. Even there, he had not seen one.

Michael was pleased with his handy work. He still had the knack for the unique. Something Washington also agreed with. The route had been planned well and driven several times without his little device.

He had left Fi waiting at the site, her explosive devises prepped and ready. She was ready, but unhappy at the potential body count if more than anticipated unfriendly approached. She would have little control over whom and how many would die once the massive explosion succumbed to the pressure of her little finger.

She had given Michael ample warning to get out once her call was placed. He would have just 10 seconds and he should be far from the building by then. She had also thought of everything. A high power rifle would give her full control over any stragglers that and a laser scope was enough to stop anyone in his or her tracks

Sam watched the hotel. It would be his job to stop the onslaught from actually leaving the hotel and the area. He had managed to add a bag of sand to two of the three vehicles' gas engines, which will start them, get them going and then they will sputter to a stop long before they reach the warehouse. It was a plan he was most proud of. Once the vehicles were disabled, he would return to the warehouse and help with the final round up.

Mike drove past the hotel before driving around the corner and returning. His head set went on.

"We have some action." A team of two…Oh wait a minute! A few more. All three cars now." Sam chimed in

"How about Mintor?" Mike asked.

"No, but that crazy chic is out in front. The one Fi described."

"You mean Lena?"

"Yeah. She has the look of death going on Mike. What was your relationship with…"

"Not now Sam."

Sam could hear the anger and frustration in his words with just the few. Mike didn't routinely yell at him. "Sorry Mike, no Mintor."

"Damn. We are going to only get one shot at this."

"Mike, I don't know about you buddy, but from what Fi has been telling me that woman is not a clown in his little circus. She is one of the ring leaders. We can leave him with nothing to come back to."

"I just didn't want him to come back to me."

"It is a good plan Mike, I say we go for it and get what we can."

Mike watched as the cars pulled out onto the street behind him. It would only be a matter of turning off the trackers' power source and losing the tail. Michael closed his eyes. Sam was right, get what they can now."

Michael stepped on the gas, nervously looked in his rearview mirrors and turned his head. All things he had been taught not to do in a situation he was being tailed, but he needed the ruse to work, and work quickly.

The rats took the cheese and soon followed. Michael tore through the streets, the borrowed car doing what it needed to do to just stay ahead. Several blocks from the warehouse, one of the first casualties. A Tahoe sputtered and died as a second passed it and a Range Rover followed in tow. Mike could see frantic calls between the passengers of both vehicles.

Pressing the gas a little more, Mike turned the corners a little quicker as an all out chase began. The Tahoe was no match for Michael's car as it took wider turns and a longer lag time before correcting itself. By now the trio of cars left the comfortable zone of the small town and headed into a business district of large warehouses. Michael watched as the Range Rover pulled ahead after the last turn and the second Tahoe sputtered too, but still moved forward in a half-hearted attempt to keep up.

The Range Rover never slowed. They were now just a block away from the warehouse and Michael Braced for the miniature explosion. Passing the point of no return, the back tire of his car blew and he fought to go the remaining distance. The Range Rover gained as Mike finally slid to a halt as a second tire also blew.

Abandoning the car, Michael grabbed his small box and ran. His Beretta in his hand, a second clip buried in his coat pocket he ran for the door of the warehouse. The Range Rover pulled quickly in front of the warehouse door. Three men and Lena stepped from the vehicle. She made a call, then another as Fi watched. The trigger of the rifle lay neatly in her small fingers. One bullet would have solved many of her problems, but she did as Michael asked, she waited.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Higher Ground

Michael ran as fast as he could remembering to limp. He had to make it look good. A ricochet hit the sign above his head as the door to the ware house opened and then closed. He could feel his heart beating in his chest and his breathing came in short shallow breaths. He prayed he was one step a head this time, or this would go really badly.

Inside it was dim, light had come on when he hit the switch, but several of the bulbs had blown out and that suited what he needed. Finding the back corner, Michael hid behind several empty wooden crates and tucked the small box into the corner.

"What is going on out there Fi?" Mike said into his head set.

""They seem to be waiting for something. Lena is making calls. I don't want them to wait for any more of those soldiers. That could get messy. Maybe I should just shoot them." Feeling the cool trigger with her fingers.

"Patience Fi. I don't want a gun battle in the streets. We talked about this! If they think I am trapped, they will come for me. They still need me."

"I am surprised they would wait since they have you trapped."

"They left with three cars, arriving with just one is obviously giving them reason to pause. They know they can't wait too long. Keep an eye on them. I have to call Sam."

"Anything Sam?"

"You are lit up like a Christmas Tree, and I have one bleep moving in your direction. It's Mintor all right. It looks like the lovely Lena is calling in the big guns since they think you are alone and wounded. A little like the hounds chasing the fox, huh Mike?"

"Well let's hope we out fox them." Mike said smiling.

"Nice one. Now are you sure. You want to be in there alone. I count Lena's guys and then Mintor that would put them at five maybe six."

"Don't forget I have Fi outside, and besides the more inside, the less I have to watch over my shoulder."

"It is your call. I am headed your direction."

Mike's headset beeped. I was Fi.

""Yeah Fi, what's up."

"We have company."

"I know. Mintor is on his way."

"This isn't Mintor. This looks like part of the group from the disabled cars and a few more."

" How many?"

"Four more."

Mike paused. Three of them to six wasn't bad, but now it was ten.

"They must have had teams we didn't see when we scouted."

'What do you want me to do Michael?" Fi said, flipping the safety off.

"I will draw them inside. Stick to the plan."

"I can even out the odds, definitely get two or three. What do you think?"

"Fi . . . stick to the plan. I will stay long enough to keep them busy. We really want Mintor. Sam said he is on the way. If he sees gunfire before he arrives he will think he has lost the tactical advantage and flee."

"Why don't you just let me put a bullet in his head and be done with it?" Fi said moving the scope around to see all the faces of the people below.

"If you get the shot and the others have been taken care of, I promise Fi, you can pull the trigger."

A smile came across the face of the small Irish woman. There was a reason she liked him. He understood her.

"Michael, they are moving to the doors in teams." Fi said, her heart beating just a little faster.

'Don't worry. If they know Mintor is on the way, the won't breach until he is closer. I still have a few minutes." Michael said as he climbed the rafter above his boxes. He needed to get up and out of the line of fire.

"Mike he is nearly there, are you ready?" Sam broke in.

"I am as ready as I am going to be."

Sweat dripped down his face to his nose as he climbed higher and higher. Fi had set up a system of microphones and this should draw their attention away from where he actually was. He found a spot and waited, listening to the beat of his heart. His mind wandering slightly back to Washington as he worked out his dilemma in his mind.

"Michael, how did you sleep? I see the suit fits you. My tailor is still excellent and I knew you would enjoy that."

Michael felt the material of the suit he was wearing. The finest cloth, that moved well and felt great next to his sore muscles. "You remembered . . . that's nice. A nice touch."

"I am glad you liked the suit. It was the least we could do after the last four years but, I did bring you here for a reason I will get to the point."

Michael smiled and sipped on the coffee that was brought to him.

"Michael we have finished the evaluations." Opening a file on his desk. "Everything looks good. Psych. has cleared you and weapons, but medicine still says that bullet hole in your shoulder has slowed you down."

Michael felt the stiffness at the site. His arm did ache at the end of the day more than the rest of him. "I have had worse."

"Yes you have, but we were both a lot younger." The director said sipping his coffee. "I have a question that I need you to answer it for me."

"OK, shoot."

"A year ago a federal building was broken into and information was taken. From that an operative was burned, I believe you know him."

"Yes, your talking about Jesse, Agent Jesse Porter."

"Yes, yes. You are familiar?"

"I am."

"Agent Porter's old handler was killed for the information you gave us, is that also true?"

"Yes, that is true."

There was a pause . . .

"Jesse Porter says that it was you that broke into that federal building and burned him and it was you that involved his old handler, of course with his help?"

Michael sipped his coffee as he thought of his answer. It would have to be the truth, but he would have to ease his way there. This portion of the operation had not come up before and it was disturbing to him that it was coming up now.

"Yes, both are true. Much of the information I needed was buried in a computer in a government building. Marv lost his life because there are sociopaths in this world that want to make money on information. The same information that I took a bullet for and the same information that Jesse Porter was burned over. That is our business that is what we do."

"Michael, Michael . . . they are coming in." His headphone cracked with the static as Fi's voice brought him back.

Michael slid the safety off his weapon and sat back with the microphone in his hands. He was ready for the awe and shock of the operation.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40- Lofty revelation's Please review

I enjoyed writing this chapter. For all that asked, it is nearly over.

Three different doors opened simultaneously as the armed men moved into the dark space and spread out camouflaging themselves behind boxes and other debris lying about. It was well-coordinated. Michael thought as he watched from above. The teams divided below then moved slowly, working their way around the sides of the room. The warehouse was enormous, with just enough rusting and decrepit old equipment to make it a hazard and an obstacle for any trained team. With the dim lights, it was hard for them to see too far into the space ahead of them, just as Michael wanted.

Michael climbed the last rafter and found the headset Fi had left for him. He wondered how many times she had made that climb since he was already sweating even in the cold air of the early evening. She was stronger than he remembered, but maybe they were right, he was getting older.

He placed the head set on and whistled loudly. All movement below his feet stopped as men hunkered down in their positions. It was not a time to be bold, it was a time to wait and see.

Then the voice from below.

"So, Michael I see you are here and not dead. You apparently swim better than most. They are still dragging the river for your body."

"Someone should call and tell them to stop. Maybe you since you told them I was a missing teenager. Did you lie right to them, or did you do it by phone?" Michael asked sarcastically, watching the movement of two teams. He knew they were searching for the speakers, because they would have wires that would lead to him. Clever he thought.

"I did it in person. I can be so convincing. You should know you believed everything I told you!"

"You did make a convincing liar. I applaud you. I usually don't get that fooled, but in my own defense I was young and apparently stupid."

"Ah Michael, we could banter back and forth for a while, but I have a plane to catch and a mother to kill, maybe even a brother if I can find him today."

"You aren't getting out of here alive Lena."

"I think you are a little out numbered to be making such bold remarks, don't you Michael?"

"Stage one, Fi." Michael said into his phone as Fiona listened in. The entry doors exploded with charges as a burn went around them, sealing them shut. A scrambling of bodies away from the areas occurred as men moved away from their entry point.

"I didn't think you had it in you Michael. Well played, but you are still here with us and outnumbered."

A flash of light appeared and a spotlight lit up the center pole of the warehouse. Michael looked at Fi's handy work. An explosive device was duck taped 20 feet above the ground.

"For you Lena, something special. What you are looking at are high grade explosives. There are several just like that around the warehouse all at the same height. There are enough of them to bring the roof down on you and your little friends."

"Clever Michael." Lena said looking around the room and noticing the devices Michael spoke of.

Now just out that window." Michael looked at the panes from windows at the far end of the building. Some were broken, but mostly intact. They were the same level as the explosives, but wide and expansive. During the day, they would have allowed for plenty of natural light, but night had fallen and the windows were dark except for Fi. " I have a sniper. Anyone tries to dislodge my bombs and they will get a bullet to the head." Michael spoke into his phone. "Something flashy please Fi."

Fi smiled as the trigger pulled back and a bullet flew from the weapon hitting one of the over hanging lights and sending shards of glass, metal and sparks down on the working floor. She was made for this.

A man whispered in Lena's ear through her phone. "That was a nice demonstration Michael. Now let me show you mine." Lena said with a smile.

The bullet missed Michael by an inch as it ricocheted off the metal next to his head, and only because he moved at the last moment did it not hit his temple. A second bullet ripped through the outside of his arm as he moved back into the darkness of the roof. He clenched his teeth to hold in the noise he would have made and took a deep breath through the burning in his arm. The new wound had come dangerously close to the last making it that much more painful.

"Nice Try Lena." Michael said out loud, trying to speak as normally as possible. "Fi stage two." He said grabbing the gush of blood from his arm.

Fi fired a second shot, and an explosion shook the foundation of the large room sending shockwaves and vibrations throughout the building, with men yelling below and shuffling for some safer locations. Michael could hear them working on the doors as he took the moment to move into the shadows.

"Michael, are you OK?" Fi asked with fear in her voice through the phone. "I heard rifle fire."

"I'm fine Fi. It is just a scratch."

"If you are injured, I say you run like hell and I detonate. Kill them all."

"I'm fine Fi. Stick to the plan. Do you see Mintor yet?"

"I see a car down the boulevard, about a mile away. It might be him. Sam said he was getting close."

"You know what to do?"

"Be careful Michael." Fi said into the dead air of the mic.

"Michael, Michael, I know you are up there. My guy thinks he got you with the last round. I think I almost heard the thud of a bullet hitting flesh." Lena said to taunt him.

"As usual you are wrong Lena. How did you like my little demonstration? I don't know how many of those explosions before the roof comes down, now are you ready to listen."

"Listen to what, the rambling of a mad man. You have nothing I need to hear." She said before looking at her men because they were looking at her. Her sniper spoke in her ear. He did not have a shot. In the darkness he was gone. She could hear the grumbling beneath some of their breaths. The teams were having a hard time getting a door open. They would have to cut through a wall, it would take time, and it would increase the tension she was feeling. She wanted to shoot one to keep the others in line, but she had a feeling with the close proximity that idea would back fire. These men were only getting a paycheck. A substantial one, but still a paycheck. They signed on for the money and for nothing more.

"Why don't you let these men go Michael and you and I can have a chat about why you think I am wrong? This is about my parents. You were in that humvee. Michael, they double crossed you too. You could have easily died that day. I am just looking for a little revenge. It has been a long time coming."

"That is not a way to live your life Lena, and I am not going to look over my shoulder for the rest of mine. I can't let you walk out of here and kill that family."

"That family tried to have me killed. They left me for dead and you helped them. You arraigned for them to find me, for the bomb to go off but your timing was off, just like it is now Michael."

Michael lay on the rafter, he back on the metal, his head laying flat while he gripped his arm and the words she spoke. His mind went through a hundred different words she had said as Fi cut in.

"He is here Michael."

"If you get a clear shot, take it Fi and remember the plan."

Outside, Fi waited. Her rifle sight moved to the parking lot as the car drove quickly into place. As expected, Mintor wasn't alone. It was a mercenary that stepped from the car first. Fi watched and anticipated her first shot. A second man appeared from the rear of the vehicle. This was Mintor.

Fi lined up her shot. It would be just seconds from happening.

Sam wasn't far, actually he had been right behind Mintor and as his car pulled into the parking lot across the street he finished making his call. There had been no news from Fi or Mike, so he continued with Michael's tactical plan. A good one he thought.

"Lena, all those years ago I came to get you because I thought I cared for you and you cared me. Your father knew where you were. He told me where to find you. He was angry but not angry like you think he was. He was sad and disappointed. I was trying to get you out of there. I was trying to get you to the states. He knew that" He paused. "Mintor knew where you were, but it wasn't a job for him. It was personal, wasn't it? He was jealous. You were pregnant with my baby. Lena, it wasn't an accident. He meant to kill you and me."

Lena listened to the rant. "You're lying, twisting the truth Weston." The pressure inside was growing. Teams were going through their paces, looking for exits and being stopped in their tracks. Michael and his team had thought ahead.

"Am I Lena? If your parents wanted you dead, then why was your mother so distraught over the news that she couldn't look at me, she couldn't talk to me the day I told her. They were angry because they blamed me. If I had been who I said I was, we would have been married and they would be enjoying a life, your life. A life they could be proud of. You are right, in a way I am guilty. In a way it is my fault, but you have to believe one thing. When I came for you, I was there to make it right."

She had heard only one version for so long that even she believed it. There had been questions that weren't answered for her. Long ago forgotten facts that didn't add up. With nothing else in her life, she had stayed with the one true constant, Mintor.

Outside a shot rang out as Fi could hear the faint echo of police cars. Her target, flew backwards landing hard against the car before dropping to the ground. It had been a perfect shot. Mintor panicked as his guard went down and he ducked behind the vehicle pointing his gun in the direction of the muzzle fire. He never saw Sam approach as his weapon pressed firmly into his skull.

"Now gently put that gun on the ground, or you can end up like your buddy on the other side."

Slowly Mintor moved. He could feel the cold steel adding more pressure.

Sam kicked the gun away and spoke with Fi on his blue tooth.

"Tell Mike. I got him." As he swung hard into his head.

"You would say anything Weston, to get out of this alive." A tear dropped from her eye.

"I think if you look around the room Lena, you will notice that I have the advantage. You are not getting out. I have no reason to lie, not now. We can do this peacefully or in a hail of fire."

Lena looked around again. The men she was with looked at her for answers. The noise of the sirens outside grew louder and more intense as several cars pulled into the front of the building. She was trapped and she knew it.

A second explosion rocked the building as Lena fired a shot at the closest explosive devise and then turned to a third. The room shook and vibrated, as smoke and fire filled the warehouse. Michael could feel the rafter beneath him vibrate hard as he clung to it. A fourth explosion created a chain of events amid gunfire from several different locations and screaming below. Loud crashes could not only be heard, but felt as a large part of the center roof fell from the top. Remaining windows exploded out as more of the beams fell hitting others and causing more damage. A second fiery explosion took out another part of the roof. Further screams and cracks in the building's facade continued. The building was collapsing around them. It was every man for himself as the remaining roof came tumbling down taking out a large portion of the back wall. Flames shot high in the sky as the heat found the remaining devises that Fi had produced, shaking the foundation and the surrounding parking lot.

Sam and Fi watched in horror as the building collapsed and the fire grew. Michael did not answer his phone.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Michael's Choice

Michael woke in a mound of debris and smoke. His head pounding with the beat of his heart and his mind confused and disorientated. He couldn't remember where he was, or why, but he could tell that things hurt all over. The smoke caused him to cough as he tried to wake his senses. He could feel his left arm pinned under his body weight, but when he tried to move it, it did not respond. His right arm was buried beneath a large dark object and it moved when he asked it to. Pain and pressure dominated his lower legs and it made moving difficult.

He pulled at his right arm free releasing it from its hold and forced it to pull himself up only to be immediately regretful of the action as searing pain ripped through the wounded arm.

Lying down again seemed to relieve the discomfort and drag him back as he drifted into twilight once more.

"Michael, I just wanted to know your version of the truth. That is simply why I asked. But we do have a problem"

"We do?" Michael said putting the cup of coffee down.

"You were burned by a group looking for power. They wanted to control you. I get that, I do. I am even sorry it happened, but it did happen and things happened because of it."

"What are you saying director? Are you saying after all this..."

"Let me finish Michael, Please!"

Michael sat back.

"The world has changed in four years. Many, even here, see your file and think you are guilty of the crimes inside it. I know it is not true, but it will be an uphill battle. As for internationally, you were outed to many of the countries you were working in. That's bad Michael."

"Bad how? My name was well known and people respected it and trusted it."

"You said it yourself. Was . . . is a big word in that statement. In their eyes you have done these crimes, you are guilty as charged."

Michael looked down at his shoes, the soft leather felt good against his tired feet. He sighed loudly as he spoke. "I just want my life back. That's all. Just MY life back."

The director leaned back in his large leather chair. "Can you give us a moment?" he said to Michael's entourage. He watched the two men that had been his constant companions for weeks close the door behind them.

"Mike, there is nothing more that I would like to do for you. We have worked closely for a long time. I consider you more than just an employee, but Mike . . . I can't give your life back. I can't fix what they broke. I have tried."

Mike looked up feeling defeated and broken. "Now what?"

"Mike you are in your forties. What do you have 4 maybe 5 good years before you start feeling every muscle pain and ache. Then you just start looking forward to retirement or someone puts another bullet in you and you don't get as lucky as the last one. You have to think of your options. With back pay and your pension you could retire. Get a nice cushy security job."

"Do you think I did all I did just to retire?"

The director smiled. "I can't give your life back Mike, but you don't need it. I have dozens of reports on my desk, all with your name on it. Things you have done in Miami. You have a life. A good life in Miami and a team that many operatives look for their whole careers and never find."

"But I don't want..." Michael started.

The director cut him off. "Before you turn me down, I want you to think about it. Miami is a mess. A mix of drugs, gangs and illegal immigrants make it the perfect place for you to begin again, and you already have a foot in the door. The FBI knows you, the local police work with you. You know other . . . people. It is the perfect place for you to use your team and do work for us either there or use it as a base. I have work for you, lots of it Michael. We have a list to take care of."

"Do you know who is on my team?" Michael asked thinking of Fi.

"We do and I know it is a little unorthodox, but it works. They are very effective. They will be compensated for their work. Just contract work though. I can't officially hire them, but you will be able to."

"Are you sure?"

"Michael, it is what we do, it is what you do."

"I don't speak Spanish."

"Michael, that is an excuse." The director laughed a little. "You learned to speak Farsi, you can learn to speak Spanish."

"I don't want to stay in Miami."

"I don't want your answer, not yet. I want you to go home. Take a vacation. Take a trip. You have been in Miami for a while. Go skiing or something, go to the Mediterranean. Take a month off. I have opened your bank accounts and your back pay has been added to your total. On your way out you can pick up your passport and one you can use for vacations. I hear you and Fiona Glenanne are...well that is really not any of my business, but you know what I mean."

The director stood, "You will also lose your escort the minute you leave this building. You have a choice. It is not what you wanted, but it is your choice."

Michael stood.

"Before you go Michael, I need you to help me decide what to do with another problem I have."

Michael followed the director into the hall.

"This list gives me a lot of work, but I have a dead operative and I need someone to answer for that. You have paid enough dues, four years of your life and a hole in your shoulder gets you a bye but this will be your decision. Someone has to go down for the murder and theft of that information."

"Brennan's dead, Larry's in jail. Isn't that enough?"

"I wish it were Michael, but I have people I need to answer to. You can understand. I can burn this operative for the crimes or put him away in a private and secure jail, but I need you to decide."

"You want me to burn an innocent man?"

The director opened the door for Michael as a man behind the table stood. "He is not an innocent man. He shot and nearly killed you Michael."

Michael could see the man standing and couldn't believe his eyes. "Jesse?"


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Please review Last chapter

Fi sat in the car not far from the warehouse. There had been hundreds of questions but none directed at her as Sam took all the heat and all the questions. She as far of the FBI was concerned she was just a bystander. One that was traumatized by the events.

She watched the Fire and Rescue teams as they removed bodies from the debris. Three had been retrieved since late last night after they were able to put out the fire. One man was alive, but just barely. None of them Michael. Sam had returned from the torrent of questions with hot soup and coffee for her, but she couldn't stomach it. All she could do was watch as the sun was about to come up.

"Fi, maybe you should go back to the hotel even if it is just for a shower. I will call you if they find . . . "

Fi grabbed his hand. "Thanks Sam. Maybe just a little longer."

"OK Fi." Sam said after getting the same response several hours earlier.

"Sam, why does he do this to himself? He could get out, leave for good and then psychos like Mintor wouldn't be a part of his life."

"I don't know. I just don't know."

Sam noticed another team of firefighters. They carried a stretcher working their way over the piles of walls and former beams.

"They have another. I'll check this one. Do you want to wait here?" Sam said to her.

She nodded in agreement.

Sam waited until they were nearly clear and on the driveway, or at least what was left of it before he approached. The officer on the scene had already cleared him to be in the area. The FBI had been very accommodating after Sam's story.

Sam watched at the team pulled him over to the ambulance before he noticed the ambu bag on the man's face and a paramedic pressing on his chest and doing CPR. There was a swarm of people around him, paramedics, police and FBI when a small opening showed the man's face to Sam. It wasn't him.

Sam turned to return to the car when he heard commotion behind him. Several firefighters were yelling for help, they had another and he was pinned. Sam felt the need to help as he ran to the area, crawling over the mound to the site. Several men were trying to lift a large beam, one Firefighter was directing a crane to hover over so they could attach a chain and pull it up. Paramedics placed a mask over the man's mouth and others shouted orders. The man was face down in the mess. Men leaned over him and talked, Sam struggled for a glimpse. As the crane's chain was attached, the men backed away and let the machine take over. Sam could see him, his face, smeared with soot and blood, it was Michael."

"Mike, Mike!" Sam said yelling as an FBI agent grabbed him.

"Wait a minute. We don't need any more casualties. Wait for the beam."

Sam waited, it felt like an eternity. Smaller pieces were removed and Michael was lifted out of the hole that had engulfed him.

"Mike, Mike! Can you hear me buddy?"

Through the face mask, Michael opened his eyes and looked at Sam. Sam was sure he grinned before they rushed him into a waiting ambulance.

"Fiiii!" Sam yelled running.

At the hospital they waited impatiently in the designated room. The FBI had a few more questions and Sam was eager to supply answers. He was hiding nothing. Everything was coming out except for Fi's portion and where Mintor was.

A doctor approached almost 45 minutes later.

"Are you Michael Weston's family?"

Fi nearly jumped up. "We are? Is he . . . all right?"

"He is going to be just fine. He is a little banged up and we had to repair a dislocated shoulder and some smoke inhalation, but he is fine. We are going to observe him for a few more hours because of the bang to his head, but he should be able to go home after that."

"Can I . . . "

"You can go see him."

Fi practically ran finding Michael lying on a stretcher trying to pull off his face mask.

"Leave that on, are you trying to kill yourself?"

"I don't want to be here any more Fi."

"Well considering you damn nearly killed yourself again in a week, I think for the next few hours you can at least keep that on for a little while."

"Fi I don't think it was that bad."

Fi just stared at him.

"I would listen to her if I were you. She is damn good shot." Sam said from behind her.

"Sam it is good to see you."

"You too, buddy."

"Sam, do you have that little package we discussed."

"I do, but the FBI is going to have a few questions before you can open that."

Michael closed his eyes and breathed in. "You might as well send them in so I can get this over with. Fi go with Sam. I don't want you in the middle of this."

"Michael you just woke up and now you want me to leave."

"I have to keep you out of this. I have to keep you safe."

"OK, but just for a few minutes." She finally relented, feeling the pressure of his impending doom pass.

The FBI agent entered the room with Sam and pulled the curtain back. "Mr. Weston it seems like you have a few friends."

Michael and Sam looked at him confused.

"More than a few I would say." Jesse said as he pulled the curtain back.

"Jesse" Michael and Sam said simultaneously.

"You guys need to trust me a little more. When I called your mom and she told me Sam went to Pennsylvania to get Michael I knew something was up. Then I read all these reports about things blowing up and I have to check it out for myself."

"It is good to see you Jesse. Thanks for coming." Sam said back.

Michael didn't know what to say. It was hard to face Jesse.

"Jesse...I . . . I am glad to see you." Michael stumbled through his words and flashed back to the room Jesse was standing in.

"What?" He yelled at the director before grabbing the door and closing it sharply while pushing the director with his free arm against the wall. His fingers on his jugular.

"I don't know what kind of game you are playing. I am done with them. I have had enough. That man in there is innocent. He has not done anything wrong. He got caught up in an operation I was running and has payed dearly for it. Marv wasn't just a colleague of his, but a friend. I watched the pain on his face when he died and for days after when he had to call his wife and kids. If you are going to blame anyone, blame me."

The director struggled slightly as Michael increased the pressure on the artery. "You let him go. I am going to see my family and say good by. If you need a scapegoat, I am it, I will turn myself in. I will be here in three weeks. You divide my back pay between Fiona Glenanne and Sam Axe. Send my pension to my mother. I deserve at least that for the last four years. Don't come for me because I will kill anyone you send." With his final word, Michael increased the pressure on the man's artery and waited till he crumbled in a heap on the floor before walking away from it all.

"You know you pissed a few people off in DC?"

"I thought I might. Did they let you go? "

"Something like that?"

"Jesse. I am sorry. I did not know they would continue to drag you back in this thing. I hope you can understand I tried to get your job back."

Jesse smiled at him. "Imagine that! I fooled the great Michael Weston."

"What?" Michael said.

"Michael, for you to come back, that is a hard task. Most of what the director told you was correct, but some people had their doubts. Could you be trusted? They came to me and asked me what to do. Personally I was thrilled. I am an analyst. I conjured up this idea. The one thing you wanted most was to get back in. Would you give up a friend and a colleague to get that?"

"I don't understand." Michael said. His head reeling. "It was all a lie?"

"No, a test. A lot of people bet against you. I didn't and you still have a choice to make. The one difference is that I would get to be your new handler if you choose to stay."

"Mike, what is he talking about?" Sam asked after listening to the conversation and not understanding any part of it.

"It is a long story Sam. One I need to tell you and Fi on the drive home."

Jesse smiled. "I have a company jet, need a lift."

Michael smiled back. "Only if you can accommodate one more passenger?"

"Sure let's go"

Michael told Sam and Fi all about the trip to Washington, D.C. and his offers while Jesse spent the time making a new life for the family Michael had risked everything for. Mintor struggled in the back of the plane against the duct tape that tied him together. With the new addition of Jesse, Michael was leaning towards being the Miami Operative. Sam and Fi agreed.

Jesse finished his call while he handed Michael a piece of paper.

"What is this?" Michael asked Jesse.

"A little light reading when you get the time."

Michael glanced at the paper. A preliminary autopsy report for Lena and a highlighted section.

-37 year old female- not pregnant at the time of death. Probably never pregnant due to a birth defect in her ovaries and fallopian tubes. Under developed tissue precludes her from...-

Michael crumpled up the paper and tossed in the trash.

As the plane landed at Miami International Airport, a black van waited for them to unload.

Michael gingerly made his way down the stairs with the help of Sam and Fi.

"Well Mr. Weston, I didn't think it was possible for you to look any worse than the last time I saw you, but you have proven me wrong. You really look like crap."

"Detective Paxson, so nice to see you too. In case you two haven't met, this is agent Jesse Porter. He is going to assist you with your case." They all watched as Jesse escorted their prisoner. "And this is Mr. Mintor, your bomber."

"Are you by your self." Jesse asked her.

"That unmarked van has five SWAT team members."

Jesse smiled and pulled at Mintor. "Come on, you are going to love Miami."

"Michael Weston you are a man of your word. It is a pleasure to work with you again. Thank you."

Fi watched her shake his hand and Detective Paxson caught her eye.

"Ms. Glenanne, you are a lucky lady all he ever does is talk about you." she said winking at Fi.

Fi smiled back. Miami's sky just got better looking.

As Jesse climbed in the back of the van he yelled over.

"Go get some rest all of you. We have work to do tomorrow."

**Thanks for reading along. I hope you enjoyed it. Watch for the next story. **

**Their first operation.**


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